Parenthood
by Nightfoot
Summary: When Yuri agreed to father Estelle and Rita's child, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. The lives of everyone surrounding the child are about to get a lot more complicated. Rita/Estelle and Yuri/Judith.
1. The Arrangement

This story is a collaboration with my friend Yggnomial. It started as a joke, but as dumb fandom jokes are wont to do it gradually turned into "wow I really want to write this, actually". Most of the Rita and Estelle scenes are written by her, and most of the Yuri and Flynn scenes are written by me, with a few exceptions. This story is less a single cohesive plot arc and more a series of one shots arranged in chronological order. Also, we didn't want this to be super depressing so as far as we're concerned, dogs in Terca Lumereis have a much longer average lifespan because Repede is around 12 when the story starts and we didn't want him to die of old age.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Arrangement **

Yuri wasn't really sure why he'd been summoned to the castle. Estelle invited him to tea every time he was in Zaphias, but this time the invite had explicitly asked he come alone. Since he and Judith always travelled together, asking him to come without her was unusual.

Getting summoned to the castle in general happened a lot more in the eight years of his post-Adephagos life than it ever had before. To be fair, his pre-Adephagos summons were always more along the lines of 'jail sentences'. Some of the knights at the front gates apparently remembered those days, based on the scowls they gave him on his way in. He grinned and waved his invitation at the, and they reluctantly waved him through. By the glares he received, he guessed that they were some of the guards he'd beaten up on one of his jail breaks in the past. Not everyone was thrilled with his new status as personal friend of the princess, and Yuri didn't think his life would be without hassles for quite a while. He wouldn't have it any other way.

He made his way down the halls of the castle. He knew the way to Estelle's quarters well enough, since she invited him over enough times. He usually made a fuss about getting dragged away from guild work to sip tea with nobles, but he couldn't deny the reunions were nice. Rita, who lived with Estelle, sometimes even put her books away for the entire afternoon to socialize, mostly on the days when they managed to get Karol and Raven to Zaphias, too. After all, she wasn't about to waste time talking if the entire group wasn't present. Estelle usually managed to drag Flynn away from his office, too, but for some reason he didn't count as far as Rita was concerned.

Yuri wondered what his chances were of seeing Rita book-free if it was only going to be him. Once again, he wondered why Judith had been asked to stay at home. They shared his tiny apartment above the inn on their days in Zaphias, and though he'd left Repede in her company, he felt bad leaving her with nothing to do. She said she didn't mind, but she said that about practically everything.

He knocked on the door, and Estelle opened it almost immediately. Her face lit up when she saw him, as it always did. "Yuri! It's good to see you."

"Hey, Estelle," he said, striding into the room. Estelle lived in a suite in the castle, complete with her own sitting room, kitchen, and several bedrooms.

Rita sat at the table that straddled the line between the kitchen and the sitting room, an open book on the table. "Hey, Yuri," she said, not even looking up. Rita had been living with Estelle for a few years now. As far as the castle officials were concerned, they were roommates. To those who knew them better – namely, Brave Vesperia and Flynn – they might as well be married. Only the Empire's prohibition on same-sex relationships kept it from happening.

He looked around the room. Flynn wasn't here, and Flynn was never late so he could only assume Flynn hadn't been invited. From the way Estelle hovered around the room, fidgeting her hands, there was something on her mind.

"So… what's up?" Yuri asked.

"Sit down, Yuri," Estelle said, hurrying to the kitchen. "I'll get you some tea."

Yuri had never been a big drinker of tea, and quite frankly sipping tea from Estelle's flowery china cups made him feel silly, but rejecting the tea would hurt Estelle's feelings and he feared Rita's retribution for making Estelle sad.

Estelle came back with three cups of tea on a small tray, and then sat down next to Rita. It was a testament to the seriousness of the occasion that Rita actually closed her book and put it off to the side. Yuri was starting to get a little worried about whatever it was they had invited him to talk about.

"What's going on with you two?" he asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Well…" Estelle said, "Rita and I were talking and, um, it's about the Children of the Full Moon. You see, we think I'm the last one and that it would be bad if there were no more."

"Would it?" Yuri said. "It seemed to cause a lot of problems for you."

"The Child of the Full Moon isn't a problem anymore," Rita said. "Now that we've converted most of the world's aer to mana, all it means is that they're a person with above average healing abilities, and that's a useful skill."

"But," Estelle said, "I'd need to have a child to pass on the lineage, and, um, that would be…" she looked over at Rita meaningfully.

Rita folded her hands on the table. "Basically, Estelle and I want a kid. Both because of the Child of the Full Moon thing, and also just because hey, we're grown-ups and we want a family. 'Course, I think even you, Yuri, can figure out a problem in our plans to have a child."

Yuri nodded slowly, not entirely sure what they were getting at. He certainly knew enough about biology to know that two girls couldn't make a baby, but he didn't know why they were explaining this to him. "So… what are you planning to do?"

Estelle took a deep breath, puffed herself up and then blurted out, "I want you to father my child, Yuri!"

A pin could have dropped and made more noise than the three of them. Estelle stared at Yuri with stubborn resolution, Rita crossed her arms and averted her eyes, and Yuri stared at Estelle with his tea cup halfway to his mouth.

After almost a minute of silence, he said, "You… what?"

"Estelle and I aren't making a baby by ourselves," Rita said. "We'd adopt, but that won't help with passing on the Child of the Full Moon lineage."

"We talked about this for a long time," Estelle said. "We knew we needed to ask someone to father our child and we decided we'd like it to be you."

"Uh…" Yuri wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this. His brain was still too busy running over the words 'I want you to father my child' to pay any attention to new information, so the only question he could think to ask was, "Why me?"

"It was between you, Flynn, Karol, and Raven," Rita said. "I still think of Karol as a kid, Raven is gross, and we didn't think Flynn would agree to it. So that left you."

"Hey, wait, I'm your back up because you didn't think you could get Flynn?"

"No!" Estelle said. She was a pretty terrible liar.

Yuri remembered he was still holding his tea cup and put it down with a clatter. "I'd be a way better father than Flynn!" He had never even thought about having children before, and he had _definitely_ never thought about having a child with Estelle, but now that it was a competition with Flynn he was determined to win.

"Does that mean you're ok with it?" Estelle asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I didn't say that!" This was a pretty major decision to make lightly. "How exactly is this going to work?"

"Well," Rita said, "the normal method is that you both get naked and then you put your-"

"I understand the mechanics, Rita, thanks."

Estelle's face was red as she said, "We – we would have to… you know… But only once. Then, you wouldn't have to deal with it. Unless you wanted to, of course. Rita and I would raise it and you could have as much or as little interaction as you wanted. So… what do you think?"

Yuri let out a deep breath. "I guess… if you guys are sure you want this… I'm going to have to talk to Judy about this."

"Right!" Estelle said, nodding firmly. "I don't want you to do anything that would mess up your relationship. Takes as much time to decide as you need."

"Alright…" He looked down at his still mostly full cup of tea. "I think I'm going to head home early." After that bombshell had been dropped, sitting here and trying to have a normal conversation would be pretty impossible.

"Ok," Estelle said. "I'll talk to you again soon, ok, Yuri?"

"Right," Yuri said, standing up and heading for the door. "I'll see you guys around." On his way out of the castle, the biggest thing on his mind was imagining Flynn's face when he inevitably found out. Having a child with Estelle would almost be worth it entirely to see that.

* * *

Zaphias was a large city; the walk to the castle to the lower quarter was enough to span several smaller cities, and it still wasn't enough time to sort out his thoughts on the previous conversation.

Sure, he was no stranger to the matter, but that was with one specific person, without the end goal being a baby. He travelled too often to be weighed down by something that needed that much sleep and care, and the most responsibility he put into anything was Repede. Dogs could be trained to keep watch, remain quiet, fight monsters – everything that a human baby was incapable of.

By the time he'd reached his front door he'd come to one important decision. He would have to discuss this with Judith before even weighing his own options, as she was involved in this almost as much as he was. This was hardly something he would think about without her input. The lock clicked open and he walked through the door.

"Hey Judy." He saw her immediately, laying on her back on the bed, absently reading a book borrowed from Estelle. Repede lay on the floor below her, lazily guarding the room. It was a rather small place, almost no different from when he lived here alone years ago. With the amount of time they spent travelling and sleeping in inns, neither of them found a reason to spend the money to move.

"What's wrong, Yuri? You look troubled." She closed her book and sat up, scooting over to make room for him. Repede opened an eye and looked up, unmoving. "You weren't gone very long; did your visit go badly?"

Yuri walked the several steps it took to reach the bed and sat down next to her with a sigh. "Not exactly. We need to talk though." There was no point in dodging around the topic all night, and he'd feel bad if he kept Rita and Estelle waiting. It must have taken a lot for them to come forward about it.

"Then tell me what's on your mind," she said simply.

"It's about Estelle and Rita, when I was there." He leaned on her, and she pulled his head onto her lap to tangle her fingers in his bangs. "They've been considering starting a family, apparently."

"Good for them." She smiled, already having shown that her stance on their relationship couldn't be more relaxed.

"You're missing the part where they can't have their own children." He looked up at her, serious.

"Yes, and what of it? I'm sure the royal family can find an orphanage to visit."

"Estelle is a Child of the Full Moon," Yuri reminded her. It was rarely relevant anymore now that the aer was balanced, and Judy always put irrelevant things out of her mind. "She needs to continue the line before they're all wiped out."

Judith stopped messing with his hair to pause and consider what he'd said. The pieces clicked together without his having to explain as directly as Estelle had. "So they asked you to help her carry."

"Yeah, pretty much." He pulled away from her to sit up and sigh again. "I'm not really sure what to do, Judy."

"Well, I think it's a fantastic idea," she told him immediately. "You care about Estelle, don't you? Friends help each other out."

He had a feeling she would accept, but she was almost encouraging him. It was his body, but she did have a point. With one last sigh, he leaned back against her shoulder, shaking his head. "So how much choice do I have in the matter?" he smirked.

"As much as you want – it's your decision. But it seems you're the only one undecided on this." She turned and wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her chin on his shoulder to rub on his cheek. "This is a lot to ask of someone. I know they won't be upset with you if you say no."

"I'd like to believe you, but Rita seems intent on this." He chuckled, reaching around to rub her shoulder. "I'd be scared to tell her no after she worked herself up to ask me."

"Then tell her that."

"It's not exactly easy to just tell them yes and follow through."

"Would it be easier to tell them you won't?"

Yuri closed his eyes and sighed, unable to refute that one. He pictured just how sad the girls would be if he said no, and how painful it would be for Estelle to either accept that she was the last of her line, or go through with her plan with someone else, someone she didn't trust nearly as much as Yuri. He didn't want to put her through that. "As long as you're okay with this."

"I trust you, Yuri, and I like Rita and Estelle, too. If it'll make them happy, I'm fine with it."

"Yeah, I guess." He glanced at the castle invitation he'd tossed onto his desk as he came in. "I'll go see them tomorrow about it and get it out of the way. I may not be home for a while in that case."

Judith leaned over and rested her chin on the crook of his neck, slipping her arms around his chest. "If you're worried about having trouble getting into it with Estelle, I can help get you in the mood before you go tomorrow."

Yuri reached up one hand to caress the side of her face and then turned his head and kissed her on the cheek. "How can I refuse an offer like that?"

She pulled away and suddenly stood up. "Good. What do you want for dinner?"

"Aw, hey," Yuri pouted a bit, "don't lead me on like that."

She leaned over and lightly kissed the top of his head. "I told you; tomorrow." She walked away, stepping over Repede on her way to the tiny kitchenette in the corner. The dog raised his head and looked at her, and then back to Yuri. He could tell something had his master on edge, but he was unaware exactly what it was. With a light whine, he sat up enough to nudge Yuri's shin with his nose. Yuri leaned down to ruffle the fur on top of his head in return.

"Just take it easy and relax," Judith said. "You'll make Estelle uncomfortable if you're more tense than she is."

"Easy for you to say; does anything ever bother you?" He sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Judith but with one hand still scratching the dog head in his lap.

"Hm… It's quite bothersome when you throw your laundry on the floor," she told him.

Yuri couldn't tell from her tone whether she was joking, or serious, or both. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Yuri lay awake for most of the night. He and Judith never spent enough time here for him to bother buying a bigger bed, and besides, it was an excuse to lie close enough touch every night. She was asleep with her head nestled at the crook of his neck, her expression completely peaceful. Yuri wished he had Judith's ability to remain so level-headed and calm in any situation.

He had already mostly decided to go along with Estelle's proposal, but it still weighed heavily on his mind. He wanted Estelle and Rita to be happy, and it wasn't like they were asking him to perform some challenging feat. At the same time, it would feel weird having sex with Estelle, even if it didn't mean anything, and he didn't even want to start considering how he'd explain this one to Flynn.

It was all well and good to say that the kid would be Estelle and Rita's, but the fact was that there would be a little kid running around who has half-him and he didn't know how he felt about that. He didn't want to take responsibility for a child, and neither did Estelle want him to, but if he was confronted by this child who was in many respects his own, could he really ignore it?

Something cold brushed the hand hanging off the side of the bed. He turned his head and saw Repede resting his head on the side of the bed. Yuri absently reached out and scratched him between the ears.

"What do you think, Repede?" Yuri asked, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Judith. "How would you feel about puppies?"

Repede licked Yuri's wrist. Even if the dog wasn't fully aware of what the situation was, he knew his master was in distress and would do what he could. Yuri appreciated the gesture, choosing to interpret it as sage words of wisdom.

"I guess you're right, but don't you think it would weird?"

Repede growled and nudged Yuri's hand with his nose.

Yuri sighed. Repede had a point. This might be weird for him, but Estelle wanted this so badly. He could make a little sacrifice that would mean the world to Estelle and Rita. Repede barked slightly, and Yuri snickered in agreement. If he didn't agree, they might go ahead and ask Flynn. In the competition for who was chosen to father Estelle's child, Yuri sure as hell wasn't going to let Flynn win.

* * *

Yuri was back at the castle the next day. A visit to the castle so soon after his last one was unusual, but these were far from usual circumstances.

"Yuri!" Estelle said when she opened the door. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

He walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Rita looked up from the test tubes she was pouring over on her desk by the window. Yuri didn't waste time beating around the bush. "I'm in. You guys still sure about this?"

Estelle stared at him with hope in her eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said. "You do still want to do this, don't you?"

"Oh, uh, yes," Estelle said. She clasped her hands together and looked to Rita. "We were afraid you wouldn't agree. What did Judith say?"

"She said to do whatever will make you guys happy. This will make you happy, right? So, let's get it over with and make this baby."

"Right now?" Estelle asked.

"Might as well," Rita said. She focused on the test tube in front of her, analyzing the colour. While doing that, she said, "A woman can only get pregnant during a certain time of the month and based on the timing of your last menstruation, you should be ovulating right now."

Yuri and Estelle stared at Rita for a moment. Estelle's face was nearly as pink as her hair, and then Yuri said, "…That is a bit more information than I was anticipating."

Rita looked up. "Use the bedroom. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"I think we got it," Yuri said, walking to the bedroom. This would be a lot easier without Rita's help. He was having enough trouble convincing himself this wouldn't be like sleeping with his sister, and Rita's attempts to treat it like a scientific procedure weren't helping him feel comfortable.

As Yuri entered the bedroom, Estelle paused to give Rita a nervous smile. Yuri just caught a glimpse of Rita returning it with a nod and a comforting smile of her own. Then Estelle followed him into the bedroom and closed the door with a click behind her.


	2. Nine Months

**Chapter Two: Nine Months**

There were several things Estelle was expecting after their attempt. A baby, obviously, was in their plans. Failure was also something considered. Hearing, "You need a vacation, we're leaving the castle for a while," came out of nowhere.

"But why?" she originally protested. "I'm still the princess, I have too many responsibilities here to just leave."

"What responsibilities? Ioder took the throne." Estelle seemed to do little aside from reading and patiently waiting for Rita to finish her work for the day. "We'll just be gone long enough to make sure you skip your next menstrual cycle. I don't want you looking so stressed out all the time."

It was the next day that they were being escorted to Halure. They sat across from each other, Estelle holding a closed book nervously on her lap while Rita reviewed pages of theory given to her by another mage in Deidon Hold, grumbling as she found obvious holes in his notes.

"Is something wrong?" Estelle asked, breaking the silence that was quickly becoming too much. She desperately wanted to spend the trip next to her, but any suspicions by the knight guards would surely reach Zaphias.

"His theories are nothing but altered blastia formulas," she said, clearly frustrated. "I've told them hundreds of times, even if we had a way to manipulate the aer, that's not an option. They're still too comfortable with blastia." She tossed the pages to her feet, effectively discarding them.

"So what then, if you're not gonna read those?" Estelle knew very little about these new science terms Rita often threw around, and wasn't any help in developing anything.

"Halure isn't far away." She leaned over to take Estelle's hand in her own, absently tracing the lines with her thumb. "We're over halfway there."

"But what then?" As much as she trusted Rita's judgement, perhaps this was a mistake if it was on impulse.

"Whatever we want, it's a vacation." She took the book off Estelle's lap and flipped through with her free hand. "What's this one about?"

"Oh, it's a wonderful story. It's about a poor orphan boy, and a rich convict pays for him to grow up and become wealthy." She let Rita skim through. "There's more to it, you should read it some time."

"Maybe some other time." She passed the book back, letting go of Estelle's hand and stretching backwards. With a glance at the door, she moved seats to lean against Estelle and lay an arm across her lap.

"Rita they'll-"

"We'll hear them coming." She shrugged, resting her cheek on her shoulder. "Unless you want me to move."

"No, it's fine." Estelle leaned back into her. "Are you sure it's alright to just leaved the Capital though?"

"Probably." She offered no other explanation.

Estelle paused. "How far did you think this through?"

"Far enough that I knew I wanted to take you to Halure." She wrapped her other arm around we shoulders, as if preemptively calming her down.

Estelle groaned under her breath, frustrated, but she couldn't be mad. "Are you at least sure this is a good idea?"

"Zaphias is only a few hours away, you worry too much." She squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "If you stress too much, it's bad for the baby."

"I suppose." She straightened up enough to look out the window. "Oh, I can see the tree!"

Rita leaned over to look. "Yeah, we'll be there soon." She sat up, releasing Estelle from her grip. "About time."

* * *

Time spent in Halure was hardly different than in the castle. The town was practically a romantic tourist trap, with few attractions outside of the tree itself. A week spent could move quickly or drag on the same as big city life, and the lack of responsibilities left many with little to do. Rita and Estelle still found themselves reading much of the time away when indoors, and keeping a respectful distance when in public. Vacation or no, princesses couldn't be seen in her position.

What was enjoyable for the two was no longer worrying about unwanted visitors, such as various castle staff and attendants, and dropping the routine of moving stuff around in "Estelle's room" as if the bed had been slept in. Estelle's obligations as part of the royal family occasionally left her busy, but no servants would call on either of them here.

"Do you want to go walk and get dinner now?" Estelle asked, closing her book and keeping her thumb between the pages. "It's getting late."

Rita glanced up at the window, seeing the light orange sky past the blizzard of flower petals. They quickly decided the habit of leaving the inn once it started getting dark, as the streets were less crowded at that time. Giving a quick agreement, she closed the journal she was writing in and tossed it onto the end table. Preferably they would wait until the sun was actually down once the tourist couples left for their rooms, but she knew Estelle loved how beautiful the flowers were against the pastel sunset.

Rita wasn't sure how anybody could live in Halure, especially now that the natural barrier was gone with the rest of the blastia, and humans were left to guard the city against monsters themselves. She shook flower petals out of her hair and off her shoulders every several seconds as they walked. Estelle, conversely, didn't seem to mind, and they almost seemed invisible as they settled in her hair. She giggled behind her hand as she saw Rita constantly swiping at her bangs in an irritated fashion.

"You take them if it's so funny," Rita said as she tossed a small handful at Estelle's head. They scattered against her shoulder, falling to the pink-coated ground. She barely noticed, only pulling one out of Rita's hair for her.

"Do you want to watch the flowers later tonight?" she asked as they walked.

"I don't know, we just did that the other day." And sitting inside in a pollen-free room sounded more appealing than getting rained on like this any longer.

"What schedule do you have to keep?" She turned to look at her. "When I asked what we were doing in Halure, you answered, 'Whatever we want, it's a vacation.'" It was easy to think of Estelle as naive and forgetful, but her memory would be hard to match.

"Alright, you win," Rita sighed. She'd planned on giving in anyways - not disappointing Estelle was probably the only thing on her schedule - and she was willing to spend a little longer outside for her sake.

Being inside one of Halure's diners should have been an improvement over the flowery mess outside, but what should have been romantic nights out were always disappointing. It was a rough part of the public front they kept as "princess's best friend." Conversations ran stiff as they stuck to current events and rather mundane topics, picking their words carefully and avoiding bringing notice to themselves. Waitresses were quick to give their full attention to the princess, as if afraid of some sort of empirical retribution if she were displeased.

Leaving and turning onto the empty street was like being released from a chokehold. Estelle took Rita's hand, lacing their fingers together as she excitedly led her up the hill. "I asked at the inn, there's a way to get to the other side of the tree, and there's a great view of eastern Ilyccia."

Rita almost had to run to keep up with Estelle's quick steps and winding path around the roots of the tree. Halure was essentially a large hill, land raised from the tree's roots pushing everything upwards. The ground on the unkempt outside was uneven and hard to walk across, but she insisted that it was the best place to go.

"The innkeeper said there's a spot the residents keep clean," Estelle explained with a grin. There was a sudden gap between the large roots. "They made it so they wouldn't be bothered by tourists, because nobody can see it from the town."

"I have to say, that was a good idea." Rita sat down next to Estelle, letting her lean into her side. The plains in front of them were in full view, almost the entire distance to the ocean, and the skies were clear behind the falling petals. She entertained the thought that if the wind died and they stayed still long enough, they would most likely be buried.

"So I was thinking..." Estelle trailed off. "About the baby. Its last name."

"What about? Aren't we using yours?" She spoke as if it was obvious.

"We are?" She looked up from Rita's shoulder, openly perplexed.

"Well, you're the princess." She waved her hand. "I'm not supposed to be involved, anyways. They'll look into it if you suddenly had a Mordio."

"I suppose you're right." She sounded sad. "You don't mind?"

"Would you care if you had to name it Lowell? It's no different." She didn't understand the weight that Estelle was putting on something as basic as a name. Names were just what you gave things to refer to them as. "It's still mine too."

"Oh, about Yuri." Estelle quickly changed topics. "The baby will need a middle name, and Yuri is more commonly a girl's name in Desier and Yurzorea."

"You're saying we should name it after him?" She didn't sound like she disapproved of the idea.

"Just the middle name. We can't say he's the father, but I think we can do this much," she reasoned. "What do you think?"

"If it makes you happy," she said. Estelle grinned and pulled her into a hug, falling and dragging them both into the grass. "H-hey, Estelle, you're gonna strangle me."

She didn't move other than to rest her head on Rita's shoulder. "I'm just so happy right now." Rita resituated herself to free her arm, and reached up to lightly brush Estelle's hair with her fingers. "I'm glad I asked about this place."

The flowers fell around them endlessly, everything quiet aside from the rustle of the branches above them. Estelle eventually broke the silence with, "I think we'll be great parents."

"I think you'll do a great job," she said after some thought. "We've been out for a while, we need to go back soon."

"Later," Estelle told her, nuzzling her face in. "The sun won't be up for a few hours, we'll be inside before it's light out.

* * *

Flynn usually tried to distance himself from the gossip that inevitably flew through the castle, but he found it hard to do so when it concerned a good friend of his. He had of course noticed that Lady Estellise had put on a bit of weight in the past couple months, but it really wasn't his business. For a while, he'd chalked it up to all the cookies and cakes she inevitably had spread out on the table whenever she invited her friends over for tea.

However, at this point there was no way the bulge in her stomach was simply from too many cakes. Throughout the castle, one word flew through the air on hushed voices and whispered rumours: _pregnant_.

Flynn had laughed it off the first time Sodia mentioned the rumours to him. Lady Estellise, pregnant? It was preposterous for more reasons than Sodia knew. Flynn was hardly an expert in same-sex relationships, but he was certain that two women could not make a baby. It was for this reason that Flynn denied it for as long as possible. Estelle had never been, well, _intimate_ with a man as far as Flynn knew, so nothing about the situation made any sense at all. He tried to ignore it and concentrate on his work, but the longer it went on, the more confused he got.

The worst was the time Yuri came to the castle looking for him to deliver a letter from Harry Whitehorse. Flynn had been in the library that evening, reading books on human physiology in an attempt trying to figure out if there was any kind of precedent for this. Yuri had been quite amused to find his friend intently staring at the pages on female anatomy.

"Are you really that desperate?" Yuri had asked, causing Flynn to jump in alarm and slam the book shut.

"Yuri! I-"

"I'm sure I can find better pictures of naked ladies for you, if that's what you want," Yuri said, unable to keep an amused grin off his face.

"You know perfectly well that's not what I was doing," Flynn said, shoving the book back on the shelf.

"Oh yeah? Then please explain why our noble commandant is holed up in the library staring at illustrations of naked women." Yuri put one hand on the table and leaned over, a smirk across his face. The more flustered Flynn got, the more amused Yuri became. Flynn had a sinking feeling Judith was going to be hearing about this story.

He straightened himself up in his chair and with as straight a face as he could muster he said, "I was doing medical research in an attempt to expand my abilities with healing artes."

"Sure," Yuri said, obviously not believing him. Yuri and Flynn had always had trouble convincingly lying to each other. To his credit, Yuri dropped the subject and tossed a sealed envelope on the table. "Message from Altosk. Something about a top secret meeting between the leaders of the guilds and the empire."

Flynn eyed the envelope. "And you just happened to have been informed about this 'top secret' meeting? Or did you hold the letter up to a light and try to read it through the envelope?"

Yuri grinned. "Hey, not all of us are stupid enough to deliver a letter without knowing its contents." He started walking to the exit of the library, and then looked back and said with a smile and complete sincerity, "Good luck with… whatever it is you're doing."

Flynn smiled. "Thanks, Yuri."

That had been a month ago. He still didn't have any answers, and Estelle was only becoming more and more obviously pregnant. He didn't have much time to worry about it with the Knights to run and the guilds to deal with, but in the back of his mind was a constant buzz of question marks that grew more and more confusing by the day.

Now, a bit over five months since Estelle and Rita had returned from their trip to Halure, there was no denying it. Estelle was either pregnant or had taken to carrying melons around under her dress. Neither Estelle nor Rita seemed likely to make an official announcement, and Flynn worried that if Estelle didn't say something soon, the rumours would get out of hand. The people of the castle, and of the whole noble quarter if not all of Zaphias, needed some concrete information before they settled on a harmful rumour and decided it was true.

Estellise was not about to take care of this, so Flynn took it upon himself. He knocked in her and Rita's door, and waited patiently until Rita opened the door.

"Oh, hey, Flynn," Rita said. She opened the door wider and said, slightly accusatory, "Estelle didn't tell me you were coming."

"Please forgive me for dropping by without notice," Flynn said. "Is Lady Estellise here?"

"Yeah, she's reading by the window. What else?"

Rita walked away and let Flynn enter the suite. He closed the door behind him and saw Estelle curled up on the window seat, her nose in a book. "Please don't wander off, Miss Mordio," Flynn said as Rita headed for the lab she had set up in a spare room. "This concerns you as well."

Rita glared at him in annoyance, and reluctantly returned to sit next to Estelle, who closed her book and put it aside. Noting her irritation, Estelle reached out and took her hand with a smile. "It will only be a minute, right, Flynn?" Estelle said.

"Yes," Flynn said. "The matter I wish to speak with you about is of some importance." He hesitated, not sure how to breach the subject. Bringing up pregnancy was bringing up the fact that sex had been had, and that was an improper subject to discuss with a princess. It had to be said, though, so he braced himself, ignored the blush that hit his cheeks, and said, "It has come to my attention that you are… uh… pregnant."

"Um… yes," Estelle said.

"Ten points to Commandant Observant," Rita said. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"There's more," Flynn said. "Lady Estellise, I'm afraid I must ask… who is the father of this child?" He glanced at Rita and added, "Unless mages have more scientific advancements than I was aware of."

Rita snorted. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Alright, so, there is a father." Flynn was actually incredibly relieved to hear this news, because it put to rest about fifty percent of the baffled confusion he'd been dealing with. When Estelle didn't jump in to answer his question, Flynn said, "Who might that father be? I'm sorry I have to ask, Lady Estellise, but you can be guaranteed that I will not be the first one to ask. Your child could potentially be an heir to the throne if His Highness Ioder doesn't have children, and the Council is going to want to know the child's patronage."

"Oh…" Estelle said. "You're right. I didn't even think about that." She looked to Rita in alarm.

"We can't tell you," Rita said. "The man in question wanted to keep his involvement anonymous."

"The Council will not accept this situation. If you don't want to tell me who this mysterious man is, that's fine, but I advise you to come up with a cover story. It won't be long before the Council starts asking questions."

Estelle gave Rita a worried look. Rita frowned, thought for a minute, and then said, "It was in Halure. We took a vacation to get away from the castle for a while. I introduced Estelle to a mage colleague of mine and they hit it off." She waved her hand flippantly and concluded with, "He was planning to come back to the castle with us, but there was in accident in the lab and he tragically burned to death."

"I see," Flynn said. "Well, just come up with his name and maybe forge some documentation and it should appease the Council. Give me the false information as soon as you can and I can claim I know of the man."

Estelle stood up and flung her arms around Flynn's neck. "Oh, Flynn, thank you! You're always so kind."

"Er… it's no trouble, Lady Estellise." He awkwardly tried to huge her back with one arm, but since she was bulging in the middle and he was still wearing armour, it was not one of the finer hugs Flynn had ever participated in.

When she pulled away, Flynn excused himself and left the room.

* * *

"Were you always that big around?" Rita dropped the question as Estelle walked out of the bath to change, staring pointedly at her stomach.

"Rita!" Estelle threw the towel around herself and covered her middle with her arms. "Did you really have to say that?"

"I mean you're showing." She stood up and pushed her chair in as she walked over to Estelle.

"Yes I know that, that's why I'm in the towel." She turned around and readjusted it.

Rita held Estelle's shoulder and looked closely at her side, putting her other hand over her stomach. "Estelle. Baby."

Estelle looked down, placing her hand next to Rita's to feel. "Really?"

"It's been a few months, and you've definitely grown." She held no truth back, leaving Estelle thankful they were talking about a baby, for many reasons.

Grinning widely, Estelle threw her arms around Rita's neck, nearly knocking her to the ground. Rita caught herself on the counter before returning the hug, excited. "We're gonna be parents!" She bounced a little on the balls of her feet.

It was great at first, but the next few months were nothing but frustrating. Due to the dangers of the chemical fumes, Rita's equipment was all moved to another room several doors down. "Just like a dad coming home from work at the end of the day," as Estelle had described it.

"You're back late." Estelle must have been listening intently for Rita's footsteps down the hall, given how immediately she asked this as soon as the door opened.

"I'm back the same time as every other day, it's not even sundown." She shrugged, locking the door behind her.

"It feels later," she insisted.

Rita dropped her goggles and coat on a table next to the door. "Trust me, it's not." She walked to the couch to sit next to Estelle, letting her settle herself into her side. "What'd you do while I was gone?"

It had become routine for the two to converse to make up for the time Estelle was alone. "You should put your books away, they're all over the study."

Rita paused, not expecting the sudden topic change. "If I put them away, I'll lose time taking them out again."

"Oh. Well, I put them away for you." She often cleaned meticulously when Rita was away, only putting her books down for this.

"You what?" The bookshelf in question was in another room, but she looked up through a doorway as if she could see her desk.

"They might get damaged if they get left out like that." With a stretch, she sat up to lay her head on Rita's shoulder. "I missed you, by the way."

"Estelle…." She trailed off, calming herself down before she said anything she would regret. Estelle was incredibly unstable, some allowances had to be given. "I'll move the important ones to the lab so they aren't in here."

She must have accepted that compromise as she stayed silent. "Hey, are you hungry? I really want curry right now."

Rita buried her forehead in her hand. "Estelle… you don't even like curry."

"But I want it," she whined. "I just do."

"Can't you call someone up?" Castle staff were always in and out, knocking at the door to make sure neither of them needed anything. Most nobles with servants kept them close by at all times, while this wasn't an option for them

"But..." She fiddled with the seam of her dress. "I don't like curry."

Rita sighed heavily. "I don't know what you want me to do, Estelle. Next time someone comes up, have them bring some. We've already gone over this." She sat up, nudging Estelle over. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Where are you going?" She gripped a handful of her clothing so she couldn't stand up.

"I told you, I'm moving my books." She placed a hand on top of hers, ready to pry it off if she had to. "It won't take that long."

Estelle let go reluctantly, sulking. There were a lot of books on a lot of bookshelves, and she wasn't sure which ones she considered important. The covers and spines were too similar, most of them unlabeled even. She slid over, giving Rita the room to stand up. "I can help you move them," she offered.

"You aren't allowed to lift anything heavy." Rita shut her down immediately. "I'm only working with a few right now, it'll only take one trip. Just wait here." She silently agreed, as Rita left minutes later with a stack of leather-bound notebooks up to her chin. Estelle had always been a little stubborn, but nothing like this. Even when she was ready to leave for dangerous locations alone, not listening to any logic or reason, she accepted help when it was offered.

_ Only a few more months_, Rita reminded herself frequently. Estelle was still Estelle, even when impossible and grating and hard headed. She arranged several of the books in some order on the table, leaving the rest messily stacked on the floor below on either side. The shelf on the opposite wall held only books with empty pages, deemed too far away to store the ones she brought in.

With one last check that she put the right books in the right place, she headed back to make sure Estelle had stay put. She was on the couch reading, a pile of thick journals on the table in front of her. "Did you take some of my books out?"

Estelle shook her head. "Someone brought these for you. She said a mage from Aurnion sent them."

Rita picked up one, glancing at the mostly-blank cover. "Lauto. Radiel again. Alright, I'll get to these in a bit." She put it back down, getting a journal from another room.

"You're going to do it now?" Estelle asked as she came back.

"Might as well. Do you have something else you wanted to do?" She sat down next to her.

"Not really…." Rita picked one of the books off the table to let her lean against her again, reading in silence. The mage's journal was full of messy handwriting and several drawings, and smudged with soot across several pages. She could assume several of his experiments had gone badly without having to read in his notes that yes, it was an explosive reaction. Several things were copied into her own book, anything she planned on trying for herself.

They separated after dinner, Rita at a desk where it was easier to write, and Estelle reading in bed as she waited. She heard movement outside the door and stopped her hand long enough to look up, seeing a sleepy Estelle standing in the doorway. "What is it?"

"It's getting late, you should come back to bed." She rubbed an eye with the back of her hand.

"I'm not done with this, I'll be back before you fall asleep." Her hand moved across the page again, as she finished writing a sentence.

"Riiiitaaaa," she pouted, leaning against the doorframe.

"Just go lay back down, I won't be gone long." She didn't look up.

"No." Estelle stepped into the room, standing behind Rita's chair and leaning forward against her head.

"I can't, I'd have to put these away first." She was referring to the books she promised to keep on the shelf.

"Just leave them out," she insisted.

"You'll get mad in the morning." Rita moved aside, shaking Estelle off so she could stand.

"No I won't." She took her hand and tugged on it a little.

"You will definitely be mad at me." Standing her ground, she closed the two that she had open.

"I promise I won't." Estelle looked like she would start crying at any time. "You don't want to spend time with me anymore."

Shaking her head and sighing, Rita let Estelle drag her back to their room. No matter her promise, she knew it would be forgotten by the morning. "Just get some sleep then, you need it." She let Estelle in first so she could settle in, having a much harder time of getting comfortable with the added company.

"I won't sleep if you don't stay here." She kept her grip on Rita's hand.

"Don't worry, I won't." Shutting the desk light off, she followed Estelle under the covers. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep; she must have been waiting for a long time if she didn't even stay up to talk.

_ Only three more months until this is over._

* * *

The question of who the father of Estelle's child was bothered Flynn for four more months. Whenever he had time to spare on the conundrum, it came back with full force. Estelle's growing belly seemed to taunt him with the mystery. The Council and the rest of the noble quarter accepted Estelle's explanation, and Flynn had been slightly amused to watch her struggle to conjure tears while everyone offered their condolences on her lover's tragic death.

The rest of the castle turned their gossip to the details of the fictitious mage, whom, according to Estelle, was named Edmund Featherstone. In this instance, the nature of castle gossip worked in their favour. Within a week of Estelle's announcement, at least a quarter of the more pompous nobles were convinced they had personally met Mr. Featherstone, been guests at his estate in southern Ilyccia, and were devastated to hear of his passing.

While the rest of the castle entertained themselves with rumours and 'facts' about exactly who Edmund Featherstone was, Flynn tore himself up trying to figure out the identity of the true father. Try as he might, he just couldn't think of who Estelle could possibly have slept with.

When Estelle was about eight months pregnant, he tried asking Yuri. He caught him by the fountain in the lower quarter, and said, "Yuri, wait."

Yuri, who was on his way home with Repede at his side, stopped short, and then turned around with a smile. "Hey, Flynn. Don't often see you down here."

"I want to talk to you," he said, ignoring a small group of children staring at him with awe. "Do you have a moment?"

"Sure." Yuri sat down on the side of the fountain. Flynn joined him, and then Repede lay his head down on Flynn's lap. "What's this about?"

"It's about Lady Estellise," Flynn said, absently scratching Repede behind the ears. "It's been bothering me for months. I'm sure she told you that her story about the mage from Halure is nonsense, right?"

"She didn't have to say anything," Yuri said. "I thought it pretty obvious. Especially the bit about Rita introducing them."

"Right," Flynn said. "So the thing I've been trying to figure out is, who is the actual father? Estellise refuses to tell me."

Yuri raised his eyebrows. "You mean you haven't figured it out?"

"No! Do you know?" Yuri didn't answer right away, but his face said enough. "You do, don't you? Tell me."

"No can do," Yuri said. "If Estelle wanted you to know, that's her choice to make."

"The reason she won't tell me is because the man requested to remain anonymous. Please, Yuri, if you know, tell me. What if he's bad news? What if he tries to hurt her or the baby? I just hate not knowing."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Yuri said. "I don't think he wants anything to do with the baby. Besides, if I told you, I'd lose the fun of watching you try to guess!"

"Yuri!" Flynn shouted in exasperation. "Just give me his name already."

"Nope," Yuri said. He stood up, and Repede pulled away from Flynn.

"Come on, Yuri," Flynn said. "At least give me a clue?"

"Let's go, Repede," Yuri said. "Don't want to make Judy worry, do we?"

Repede barked and followed his master, while Flynn stood by the fountain and kicked a pebble in frustration.

That wasn't the last time Flynn tried to get information out of Yuri. Every time they had a chance to speak, he tried to bring the subject around and try to surprise the answer out of Yuri. It never worked. In fact, the enjoyment Yuri seemed to get from this was inversely proportional to how irritated Flynn got. Every encounter ended with Yuri walking away with a laugh, while Flynn pounded his head against the wall in frustration. The only clue Yuri had been willing to divulge was "don't be jealous, but he's handsomer than you."

* * *

"Hey, Rita. Wake up." Estelle shook Rita's shoulder, hiding behind a fistful of blanket. Her temper was impossibly short in the mornings, even around Estelle if it was too early.

"It's not morning yet," she mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut and curling into a ball.

"It's close enough, I need you to wake up." She pushed on her, attempting to roll her off the bed.

Rita stuck a hand out to hold her ground. "Go away, Estelle."

"Rita I feel sick." She didn't stop the shaking, much to her growing irritation.

"Go back to sleep, it cures sickness." With a tiny wave of her hand, she rolled over and pulled a pillow over her head.

"No, I feel _really _sick," she elaborated. "I can't get up."

With a loud groan, Rita rubbed her eyes open. "Just lay down, if it doesn't pass by morning then you're sick."

"But I know I'm sick," she insisted. "I hurt all over and I'm dizzy."

"Probably morning sickness. Started late if that's what it is." She pushed herself up, grumbling as she stretched.

"But what do I do about it?" She curled up as best she could on her side.

"I told you, lay down and sleep if you can." It was definitely too early to be awake, and Rita didn't dare look out the window to approximate the time. There was faint sunlight shining from behind the curtains; she told herself it was much brighter ouside and the curtains were just very thick. "Stay there, I'll get you something to drink."

Estelle nodded and mumbled a thanks, wrapping herself around Rita's pillow when she turned. Rita began heating water for tea, racking her brain to remember what she read in Estelle's maternity books. Keeping her hydrated was important, she was working on that. Ginger supposedly settled stomachs, so that could be added to tea. Toast was good, and the castle attendants would be bringing breakfast up shortly, as Estelle was typically an early riser.

Other than a few tips, she either couldn't remember anything or there wasn't much information. People were getting pregnant all the time, how was there so little information? It hurt her as a researcher to think that something so important was so unexplained, and it hurt that she couldn't do much at all to help Estelle.

The tea was finished quickly, and she brought it into the bedroom. "Are you feeling better at all?"

"No." Her voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Come on, sit up so you can drink without spilling on yourself." She helped her sit against the headboard as she held the cup with unsteady hands. "I'll go get you a bucket just in case." If she was sick, then she might need somewhere to throw up.

Another quiet thanks. She took Rita's hand when she came back, holding it tightly. Rita pressed her lips to Estelle's forehead briefly, checking for a fever. "You aren't warm, that's good."

Estelle finished drinking, leaving the cup on the bedside table. She laid back down, pulling the blanket back up to her chin. Rita shifted back and forth a little, before speaking. "So…what are you supposed to do when somebody is sick? Do you need anything?" She looked embarrassed and turned to the side a little, not used to admitting she didn't know something.

"What did you do when you got sick before you started travelling with us? Just do that," she suggested.

"I worked through it, I didn't have time to be sick." Between doing nothing and taking notes, she would do anything but lay down and relax. At this time, even if Estelle was the same, it was dangerous for her to be active.

"Oh, I see. Just stay here and keep me company, that's enough." She kept a grip on her hand.

Rita slipped under the covers to hug her, rubbing her back slowly. "I wish I could be the sick one. It's not fair that you have to carry the baby and be sick like this."

"It's alright. I knew I'd have to have an heir since I was young anyways. This was expected." She coughed, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"That's not fair either." If Estelle weren't the princess, it could have easily been her in that position.

Estelle opened her mouth to argue, but threw herself into a coughing fit. She rolled over and leaned over the side of the bed, throwing up into the bucket on the floor. Rita pulled her hair back for her and squeezed her hand repeatedly, waiting for her to be done. "You want some water?" Estelle nodded. "I'll be right back."

She practically ran, returning shortly with a full glass. Helping Estelle up once more, she gave her the cup. "I'm still happy though," she said, looking down.

"How? You can't be happy like this." She sat upright next to Estelle, letting her lean on her for balance.

"You're never awake this early when I wake up. And you're taking care of me." She rested her head on her shoulder, smiling. "It's worth it being sick if we can be like this."

"Don't count on me being awake this early every day," she responded quickly. The sun was still barely up, and the light at the edges of the curtains was still too faint.

"Of course not." She turned to lay her arm across Rita and take her hand again, nuzzling herself into the hollow between her neck and shoulder. "But could you stay up with me just right now?"

"Of course I will. Get better soon."

* * *

Nothing amused Yuri more than Flynn desperately trying to figure out what was going on with Estelle. Every time they passed through Zaphias, Yuri went out of his way to meet with Flynn. The ever-mounting frustration and impatience on his face was comedy gold. Poor Flynn was too polite to hound Estelle or Rita for details, so he was left with trying to get answers out of Yuri. Unfortunately for Flynn, Yuri was the person least likely to divulge the truth.

"I will get the answer out of you one of these days, you know," Flynn said one day as they made their way back to Zaphias.

"Why do you care so much, anyway?" Yuri asked. He leaned against the railing of the Fiertia. Flynn had been on business in Nordopolica, and since Yuri didn't have anything else to do at the time, he and Judith had offered him a lift with Ba'ul.

"Why are you so suspicious?" Flynn said. "I'm only worried about Lady Estellise. She did tell me that this pregnancy was planned, but the thought that there is someone out there who is the father of someone who may hold important political power someday, and we have no idea who he is, is worrying. I have no way of knowing if she just found some willing sap at a bar or something."

Yuri snorted. "Does that really sound like Estelle to you?"

"No," Flynn said, "but I'm running out of options. Nothing about this situation makes sense, so who knows who it could be?"

"At least this isn't as bad as when you were wondering if Rita was the father."

Flynn scowled and punched Yuri's shoulder. "I did not think that."

"Those books I caught you reading said otherwise. Or were you maybe wondering if there was a virgin birth thing going on?"

"I don't know what I thought," Flynn said. "I was confused, alright? Stop changing the subject."

"There's no point in keeping to this subject because I'm not going to tell you."

"The truth will come out some day," Flynn said. "Unless Estelle plans on never telling the child?"

"Why should she?" Yuri said, looking away.

"Don't you think the child deserves to know who his or her father is?"

"Hmph." He stared at the grassy fields zooming by below the boat. "Don't you think it would just cause confusion? The kid's already going to have two moms who aren't even officially a couple; throwing in a father who isn't actually their father would make things worse."

"But that is why he needs to be revealed!" Flynn said. "The child needs a father figure to have some sort of stability in life. It isn't right that the natural father isn't here to take responsibility for his own child."

"What if the father doesn't want to be responsible for the child?" Yuri tightened his grip on the railing. "He has nothing to do with this baby. It belongs to Rita and Estelle and they're the only ones who have any responsibility to take care of it." They were almost at Zaphias now, so he pulled back from the railing and headed off to find Judith. "Drop it, Flynn," he said over his shoulder as he walked away. "If you're so concerned about this, _you_ be the kid's father."

Yuri stomped down the steps to the bunks, ostensibly to make sure Flynn had packed all his things already. Since Flynn was at least twice as responsible and four times as organized as Yuri, this was a pretty weak excuse. Mostly, he just wanted to get away from Flynn right now. He and Judith were just dropping Flynn off in Zaphias before moving on to Capua Nor to meet up with Karol.

He stood downstairs with nothing to do, and so started making his bed because he couldn't think of what else to do. Flynn's bunk had already been made, of course, the sheets pulled taught and tucked into the sides with military precision.

"I heard your argument."

Yuri paused for a moment at Judith's voice, and then went back to straightening the pillow. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to bother you."

"It didn't bother me. It seems to have bothered you, though."

"Why do you say that?"

"You never make your bed," she said with a slight accusatory tone. "And if arguing with you usually got you to do it, I would have tried years ago."

Yuri looked around with a slight smile. "You got me. Don't worry about it, though."

"Why are you so concerned with keeping this from Flynn? I'm sure Estelle wouldn't mind if he knew."

"It's none of his business," Yuri said. "Flynn always tries to take charge of everything, but this has nothing to do with him. It's annoying." He tried to brush it off with a flippant complaint, but there was no fooling Judith.

She crossed the room and sat down on the edge of his bed, effectively hindering his attempts to ignore her and make the bed. "It's because of what he said about taking responsibility, isn't it?"

Yuri dropped the edge of the sheet and sighed. Sometimes Judy was too perceptive for her own good. "You heard what he said. He wants to force the father to take responsibility, but I don't want that. I've thought about what kind of involvement I want for a while, and decided I don't want to be anything more to this kid than a family friend. It isn't my kid and I don't need Flynn hounding me about a child that isn't mine."

"You could just explain that to him."

Yuri sat down next to Judith. They were messing up the sheets he'd so neatly tucked under the mattress, although he honestly didn't care. "He'd never let it go – you know how stubborn and hard-headed he can be. I don't want to be a father, and being a father was never in my agreement with Estelle and Rita. It's for the best."

Judith reached across his lap and wrapped her hand around his. "If it makes you feel better, I think you would be a good father."

Yuri stared at the old wooden floorboards, deep in thought. He hadn't said it, but Judith had hit the nail on the head. His own parents had died when he was still a baby, so he wasn't really sure how a father was supposed to act. He wasn't even entirely sure who his father was, or if the bastard was still alive. "I don't know anything about raising kids, and I certainly wouldn't say I'm a good role model."

"Yes," Judith said. "Who would want their child to grow up taking after the man who saved the world?"

Yuri waved his hand. "That wasn't just me; it was a group effort. I'm talking about… you know, Ragou and Cumore. I made my decision to turn my back on the laws of the empire to do what's right, but that isn't a path I would ever want to lead a child down."

Judith smiled and squeezed his hand. "I won't tell you to take any more responsibility for this child than you feel comfortable with, but for what it's worth, I've always thought you were good with children."

Yuri gave her a bewildered look. "Since when?"

"Karol always seemed to like you well enough. You don't have to be a perfect role model – just be yourself. Estelle and Rita can take care of raising a mature and responsible adult."

Yuri laughed a bit. "Yeah, Estelle and Rita raising a mature and responsible adult. That's what Flynn's worried about."

The ship lurched as Ba'ul began their descent. It took about ten minutes for the ship to touch ground lightly in the field outside Zaphias, and then for Flynn to gather up all his belongings and set off down the gangplank. Yuri and Judith accompanied him down the ramp to the city entrance, where Sodia and a couple other knights were waiting for him.

"Thank you for the ride, Yuri," Flynn said.

"Don't thank us," Judith said. "Thank Ba'ul."

Flynn looked up at the massive whale with a smile. "You're right, sorry. Thank you very much, Ba'ul."

The massive Entelexeia rumbled in acceptance.

Flynn turned to Yuri and said, "No hard feelings about our argument?"

"Of course not. I'll stop by the castle next time we're in Zaphias. Don't overwork yourself too hard."

"I won't," Flynn said, even though Yuri knew he would. He always did. "Good luck in your endeavours in Capua Nor."

He stepped off the ramp and Sodia marched up to him. She saluted him, and then said, "Sir! I thought you would want to be informed that Lady Estellise was taken to the hospital wing of the castle approximately four hours ago."

Yuri had been about to head back up to the boat, but at this news he spun around quickly. "Is she hurt?"

Sodia looked to him, and fleetingly met his eyes like doing so caused her great pain. Yuri was a bit annoyed at that. Sodia always acted like talking to him was the most awkward thing in the world and that his very presence made her uncomfortable. Yuri had very little tolerance for this because she'd been the one to stab him, and if he'd moved on she ought to have as well. It wasn't like she was the one who still had a scar on her chest she'd had to figure out a way to explain to Judith.

She quickly averted her eyes and spoke to Flynn instead. "Lady Estellise has gone into labour."

"Already?!" Yuri said.

"It's been nine months, Yuri," Flynn said, containing his surprise with composure much better than Yuri. "We knew it would be any time now." To Sodia he said, "Cancel my afternoon appointments. I'm going to the hospital." He started walking immediately.

"I'm afraid Karol is going to have to wait," Yuri said, following Flynn without second thought.


	3. A Twenty-Gald Gamble

**Chapter Three: A Twenty-Gald Gamble **

"Would you sit down, Flynn?" Yuri said, leaning back in the chair and stretching his legs out. "You're tiring me out just watching you."

Flynn paused in his pacing around the waiting room and looked over at Yuri. "Sorry. Aren't you nervous at all?"

"No," Yuri said. "The best doctors in the empire are here. She'll be fine."

Flynn wrung his hands together. "But there's still the chance of something going wrong." He looked to the door to the delivery room with agitation.

Yuri sighed. He had a feeling he knew what was up with Flynn. He was the kind of guy who took charge of everything, especially since he became the commandant and began controlling all of the knights. Flynn liked to take control, and in a situation like this where all he could do was sit and wait, he was going mad with impatience and uselessness.

When Flynn started pacing around the room again in an effort to do _something_, Yuri's patience wore out. "For heaven's sake, Flynn, go talk to your knights and find something to keep yourself busy."

Flynn seemed to like this idea, but hesitated and looked back at the door. "But Lady Estellise-"

"Is fully capable of pushing this baby out without your intervention."

Flynn let out a deep breath. "You're probably right. It's killing me just standing here and doing nothing."

Judith chimed in, "You're not actually just standing there, you know. You're walking around quite a bit."

"Right," Flynn said. "I'll be in my office. It's downstairs and to the-"

"I know where your office is, Flynn," Yuri said. "I've been there several times. Go on, I promise we won't fall to pieces without guidance from the commandant. I'll come fetch you the moment there is any news."

Flynn gave him a taut smile, and then hurried out of the room. Yuri laughed after he was gone. "Geeze, you'd think _he_ was the father with the way he's acting."

"Are you not worried at all?" Judith asked.

Yuri shrugged. He didn't know why he was expected to be anxious. As he kept telling Judith, it wasn't his baby. "Not particularly. I know Estelle is in good hands, and besides, there's nothing I could do to help anyway. Plus, Rita is with her and there's no way Rita will let anything happen to her."

"Yes, that's true," Judith said. "It certainly was nice of the doctors to let Rita into the delivery room."

"I'm not sure if 'nice' is what did it," Yuri said. When they first arrived at the hospital wing, Yuri had asked a nurse where Rita was, assuming she wouldn't be allowed into the delivery room since she wasn't officially family. The nurse's face had gone pale at remembered terror and stammered something about an angry young woman threatening to blast the entire hospital with a Tidal Wave if they didn't let her through. The fact that the princess had demanded she be allowed had also worked in their favour.

"What is your plan, Yuri?" Judith asked.

"Hm? About what?" He was leaned forward on his knees, but turned his head to face Judith.

"About the child. How much involvement do you want to have?"

Yuri frowned, wishing people would stop bring that up. "I told you, hardly any. Look, we're always on the move. I'm sure I'll see it when I pop in to visit Estelle, but it's not like I'm going to go out of my way to take care of a child that isn't mine."

"I think it would be fun to have a baby," Judith said thoughtfully, putting her fingers on her chin and cocking her head to the side.

A stab of horror shot through Yuri's heart. He and Judith hadn't even talked about marriage yet, and now she was talking about babies? No, no, no, it was bad enough when it was just making a kid for Estelle!

Judith ignored his expression of horror and went on, "Baby clothing is so cute to shop for. Actually, I think I prefer it this way. Babies are better when you can buy them cute things but hand them to their mom when they start to cry. I don't think I'd want one myself."

Yuri's shoulders slumped in relief. He leaned over, resting his arms on his thighs, letting his heart rate calm down. "Don't scare me like that, Judy."

She reached over and rubbed his back. "Besides, it might ruin my figure and I know you wouldn't be happy about that."

Yuri twisted his head and looked up at her with a smirk. "I might have to dump you."

"Although, on the subject of dumping each other for amazingly petty things," she pulled her hand away and leaned back in her chair, eyes drifting to the ceiling, "you were supposed to buy milk last week and you didn't."

Yuri's smirked faded. "That's because it was your turn to buy the milk."

"If it was my turn, I wouldn't have gotten it the previous time." She lowered her gaze and looked to Yuri. To an onlooker, she would have appeared totally peaceful. Yuri, however, had known her long enough to see the hint of annoyance behind those calm eyes.

"That's because that week I bought the milk and then you had a sudden craving for milk at two in the morning and downed the entire bottle in a single night. It doesn't count."

"Was it a time that I bought the milk immediately preceding the week we are arguing about?"

Yuri sat upright, because keeping his neck twisted around to face Judith was hurting his spine. "Yeah, but you were just replacing the milk I bought because I didn't get _any_ of it before you drank the entire bottle."

"If that counts, then who was the one who used up the last of the sugar and didn't replace it?"

"That doesn't need to be immediately replaced. We were leaving on Ba'ul the next morning and it's not like we need it every day."

"I didn't have sugar to add to my tea that morning."

"And I didn't have milk to add to my cereal."

Judith was about to open her mouth to argue, if it could be called that since neither of them were raising their voices, when Rita came through the door and leaned against the wall in exhaustion. It wasn't even noon yet and she'd been here for over six hours.

"It's alright," she said, a tired but content smile on her face. "The baby is here and Estelle is fine. Tired, but fine."

All thought of bickering over milk and sugar dropped from Yuri's mind, and his face broke into a smile. Only now that he had the good news did he realize how worried he'd actually been. "Ah, shoot," he said. "I just sent Flynn away. I'll be right back."

He left Judith and Rita behind and raced down the hallway. As he ran, it occurred to him that he hadn't even waited around to find out if it was a boy or girl. Oh well, he'd waited nine months to find out, he could wait a few more minutes.

He strode into Flynn's office without bothering to knock. Flynn looked up from his desk in irritation to see who dared burst in on the commandant, but when he saw it was Yuri his irritation turned to anticipation.

"Well?" he said.

Yuri grinned. "Get ready for 'I told you so.' Baby's here and Estelle is fine."

Flynn let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad to hear it." He put his pen down and stood up, and then followed Yuri out the door. As they walked back to the hospital wing at a brisk pace, he asked, "Boy or girl?"

"I don't know," Yuri said. "I forgot to ask before I came to get you."

"Wouldn't that have been nice to know?"

"Hey, I told you I'd come get you the second I knew anything and I did."

"I suppose I can't fault you for that."

"So, any guess?" Yuri asked. "Boy or girl?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

"I'm putting twenty gald on girl," Yuri said.

"I'm not betting with you, Yuri."

"Chicken."

Upstairs and into the hospital wing, the waiting room was empty. The door to the delivery room hung open, so Flynn knocked slightly on the door and pushed it open. Yuri leaned over his shoulder to see into the room before following him inside. Judith sat in a chair by the bedside, a slight but contented smile on her face. Rita sat on the bedside, looking happier than Yuri had ever seen her. Lying in bed, upright and leaning back against the headboard, was Estelle, who cradled a bundle of cloth in her arms.

Flynn looked at them expectantly, and Rita said, "It's a boy."

Estelle shifted her arms and Yuri caught sight of a wrinkly face with a couple tufts of pale pinkish hair. "His name is Oliver," she said in a soft voice.

"A good name," Flynn said, kneeling by the side of the bed.

"It's from a book," Estelle said. "It was always one of my favourites when I was young. It's about a boy in an orphanage who runs away and meets up with a gang of street urchins, and then he fights monsters and saves the world."

Flynn smiled. "That's quite the legacy to live up to."

"Would you like to hold him?" Estelle asked.

"It would be my honour." He reached out and gently took the bundled up infant in his arms. He held the baby against his chest, and Yuri worried if this was maybe a bad idea because Flynn still hadn't changed out of his uniform so the chest in question was fairly hard and uncomfortable.

"Which one of us do you think he looks like?" Estelle asked with a giggle.

Flynn looked up from the baby and darted his eyes between Estelle and Rita. For a split second, Yuri was certain he saw sheer confusion flash across Flynn's face as the possibility that Rita was the other biological parent crossed his mind again. A second later, the fact that Estelle was joking sunk in and Flynn relaxed. "Considerably more like yourself than Miss Mordio, I believe."

Yuri didn't know what Flynn was talking about, because the baby was less than an hour old and he was pretty sure all infants of that age shared a collective family resemblance to a potato.

"You hold him, Yuri," Estelle said.

Yuri took an instinctive step back. "I don't think that's a very good idea." He had no clue how to hold a baby and he had a very clear mental image of the infant tumbling from his arms and splatting on the floor. He was no doctor, but he was pretty sure that wasn't medically recommended.

Estelle looked hurt, and Rita gave Yuri an annoyed glare. She seemed to understand his hesitation, so she grabbed his arm and jerked him down to the bed. "Sit down and put the baby on your lap. Support his head and hold on to him and that's really all there is to it. It's like holding a squishy melon."

"You were fine with Repede when he was a puppy," Flynn said. "This isn't that much different."

Yuri was about to protest that a human baby was very much different from a puppy, but Flynn pushed Oliver into his arms before his protestation could be heard. Yuri stiffened, terrified of dropping the baby. As he held him, he stared down at the little face. His eyes were closed right now, his face scrunched up. His hair was thin and barely covered his scalp, but Yuri could tell it was pink like his mother's.

"Nice hair, kiddo," Yuri said. "You'd better learn to fight with a pink head like that." He had tried to speak softly, but Oliver woke up at his words. His eyes opened and he stared up at Yuri with murky bluish-grey eyes. He almost seemed to be annoyed at Yuri for waking him up.

"Estelle wanted to name him after you," Rita said.

Estelle smiled and nodded. "That's right. His name is Oliver Yuri Heurassein."

"You really didn't need to do that," Yuri said, still staring at the baby. There was something completely different about holding an actual baby in his arms compared to seeing the bulge in Estelle's stomach. It had been easy to look at Estelle's stomach and objectively know 'yeah, that's a baby, and yeah, technically speaking I put it there', but now it had turned into an actual, real, tiny person.

All his prior decisions to have nothing to do with the child flew from his mind as the reality of the situation hit him across the head. Like it or not, Oliver really was his son. But, he was also Rita and Estelle's son. They were his parents, and Yuri didn't want to be a full-time parent at all. He would be… an uncle. Yeah, that sounded good. Estelle was like a sister to him, so it was very nearly accurate. He's be the cool uncle, and teach him how to sword fight and take him to visit the guilds and… He glanced at Flynn, and immediately knew he was thinking the same thing. Well then, the competition to be the favourite sort-of uncle had begun.

Flynn, though, seemed to have something else in mind. He stared at Yuri as Yuri gazed down at the tiny human in his arms, and the shock of realization lit up his face. Yuri looked at Flynn, as Flynn said, "Yuri, you…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Yuri took the chance to hand the baby over to Rita. It amused him a bit to see the look of blissful adoration on the usually taciturn and stoic girl. Yuri stood up and stretched his arms, but before he could say anything, Flynn said to him in a low voice, "Yuri, we need to talk."

As soon as they were out of the delivery room, Flynn rounded on Yuri. "Yuri, I cannot believe you-!"

"Shush!" Yuri said, glancing meaningfully at the nurse in the room, looking surprised to see the commandant suddenly angry.

Flynn took a deep breath and composed himself. "You're right. Sorry. Let's go to my office."

Yuri followed Flynn back downstairs and down the hall. Flynn walked with angry determination, every step clanking down the marble floors. Yuri followed him casually, wishing his friend would calm down and not act like this was some kind of ultimate betrayal. When they reached his office, Yuri spotted Sodia waiting outside the door with a manila folder in hand.

"Oh, sir," she said, "I was waiting for you to get back so I could give you-"

"Not now, Sodia."

Sodia seemed taken aback by his sudden clipped tone. "O-of course, sir. I apologize. Is everything alright with Lady Estellise?"

His face softened when he saw how nervous he'd made her. "Lady Estellise is fine and the baby is healthy. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I need a couple minutes to have a private conversation; could you please return later?"

"Yes, sir." She glared at Yuri before leaving, no doubt blaming him for putting her commandant in such a foul mood. Yuri just smiled innocently at her and then followed Flynn into his office.

Flynn stomped across the room to stand next to his desk and then turned around to face Yuri. Anger was building up on his face, but he forced himself to remain calm. "Tell me you didn't," he said. "Please, Yuri, just tell me you weren't this stupid."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." It was a pointless evasion, but he took that chance anyway.

"Don't pull that innocent act with me," Flynn said. "I've had nine months of your crap and you know exactly what I'm talking about."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. You're correct, I'm the father. Happy now?"

"No, I am not happy!" Flynn slammed his fist on his desk. "Were you ever planning on telling me about this?"

"No, because I knew you'd flip out like this. It's not that big a deal, Flynn."

"Not that big a deal?" He stared at Yuri incredulously, his face clearly saying he couldn't believe Yuri was that stupid. Yuri didn't appreciate this look, since he didn't think he was 'that stupid' to begin with. "What if the truth gets out? Do you have any idea what kind of scandal it would be if the Council found out that the father of the princess' child was a man from the Lower Quarter? A _guildsman_, no less!"

Yuri crossed his arms, giving Flynn an irritated look. Yuri had never been ashamed of being from the Lower Quarter, and he knew Flynn was the last person who would ever try to use that against him. He was just bringing up the protestations the Council would make, but Yuri couldn't help but interpret it as an insult. "You saying I'm not good enough?"

Flynn sighed heavily and looked to the floor. "In the eyes of the Council, no, Yuri, you're not." When he lifted his head, he said, "I know you were just trying to help your friend, but you need to think through all the consequence before you commit yourself to something. If – heaven forbid – anything were to happen to His Highness Ioder before he produces an heir of his own, Oliver would be in line for the throne and you can bet the Council would look more closely at his background. The mage from Halure story won't hold water if a serious investigation is done, and what will it mean for Oliver's future prospects if it's known his true father a guildsman from the Lower Quarter?"

"What would you have had me do, Flynn?" Yuri asked. "Turn Estelle down? Who would she have turned to? Would you have been willing to father a bastard child for her, Flynn? They considered asking you, you know."

Flynn blushed slightly at the prospect. "They – what? Well, I…"

"Karol? He's practically still a kid himself. Raven? He's a deserter from the knights and a guildsman himself, hardly a better option than me. So, what, should she have gone public and announced she wanted a child and for the Council to find her a suitable match? You know how royalty does this sort of thing, Flynn. That would have ended in an arranged marriage and then she would lose Rita and most of the freedom she has. Is that what you wanted for her, Flynn?"

Flynn leaned back against the desk and looked away, his expression downtrodden. In a low voice, he said, "Of course not."

"There were no good options for them. I knew this would get a lot of people mad at me if it ever came out, but this was the best possible course for Estelle and Rita, so I can live with that."

Flynn sighed deeply. "Alright. I understand." He met Yuri's eyes and said, "You should have told me earlier."

Yuri smiled a bit. "To be honest, part of the reason I kept it from you was that it was just so funny to me to watch your confusion."

Flynn gave him an annoyed look. "Thanks a lot. So, what are you planning to do now that you're a father?"

"I'm not," Yuri said, putting his hand on his waist. "Let's be clear: Rita and Estelle are Oliver's parents. I'll do what I can for the kid, but he's not my responsibility."

"Your actions may have been justified, Yuri, but you still have to accept the consequences. You brought a child into this world – you can't just walk away. Don't you think he needs a male's influence growing up? A father figure?"

Yuri shrugged. "I managed just fine without a father figure. Give Rita and Estelle a bit more credit."

"But-"

"I already decided I'm going to be a sort of uncle. Is that ok by you? I'll do what I can for the kid, but in the end he's Rita's and Estelle's child."

Flynn frowned. "I'm just worried about how he'll turn out. I know Lady Estellise and Rita will be good mothers, but does having two mothers outweigh the absence of a father? It's such an untraditional family arrangement…"

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Would you relax, Flynn? I know you, and I know you'll be butting your head in and trying to help whenever they let you for the next eighteen years. I'll come by whenever I'm in Zaphias and take care of him, too. Between Rita and Estelle and the two of us, he's going to have more than enough parents."

"Alright," Flynn said. He stood up straight and said, "I should go find Sodia and see what it was she wanted me to look over."

"I should find Judy. We still need to head over to Capua Nor to meet up with Karol." Karol would be mad at them for being so late, but hopefully news of Oliver would placate him.

As they walked toward the door, Flynn said, "Speaking of Judith, I'm surprised your experience with having a child hasn't encouraged you to mature a bit and settle down."

"What are you talking about?"

"You've been together for eight years now – why aren't you married yet?"

Yuri gave Flynn a look of shock. "What?" The prospect of actually marrying Judith was bizarre. They were both perfectly happy with their relationship the way it was – getting the government involved with official paperwork seemed so unnecessary.

"You're almost thirty, Yuri," Flynn said. "And you have a kid to think about now. You should start thinking about settling down with your wife instead of flying all over the world with your girlfriend."

"You're one to talk," Yuri said. "We're the same age, dumbass. You don't even _have_ a girlfriend."

They left the office and started walking down the hall. "That's different," Flynn said. "Unlike you, I'm way too busy with my duties as commandant to focus on a relationship."

"I have a job too, you know," Yuri said, shoving him in annoyance. Yeah, running jobs for Brave Vesperia wasn't quite as demanding as being commandant of the entire knighthood, but he didn't like the way Flynn implied he didn't do anything.

Flynn pushed him back. "That's different."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Is not." He smacked Flynn's shoulder, which turned out to be bad move on Yuri's part. He massaged his hand with the other and said, "Aw, no fair, you're wearing armour."

"Serves you right for trying to hit the commandant," Flynn said jokingly.

"Enjoy it while you can – we both know who would win if we were in a _real_ fight."

"Of course," Flynn said. "I would."

"Ha! In your dreams"

"Oh, before I forget," Flynn said, "you owe me twenty gald."

* * *

It had been a long wait, but they were finally there, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed and holding the baby that had just come out of Estelle. Flynn had stormed out, Yuri following after him, leaving the three of them in the room with a sleepy bundle of squishy skin and blankets. Judith remained sitting as Yuri left the room with a wide grin and shut the door behind him.

"You're not going with him?" Estelle asked. Judith was rather close to Yuri, so if he was leaving, she assumed that she would follow.

"He seems to have it under control." She kept her seat, barely giving the door a passing glance. "I wonder if Flynn figured out Yuri's involvement."

"Only took him nine months." Rita rolled her eyes, rocking back and forth gently as she held Oliver close to her chest. She noticed Estelle smiling at her. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking you look really happy holding him," she said, grinning.

Rita looked away from Estelle, down at the dozing Oliver. Judith offered a new conversation, asking, "Have you set up a room for him?"

"We started," Rita shrugged. "It's one of the rooms next to ours, so we should be able to hear him."

"You were supposed to have it done by now," Estelle said, the slightest hint of accusation in her voice.

"I'll have it done before we take him back," Rita said flippantly. "We still have time."

"He's already here, we're out of time."

"We aren't taking him back immediately. I have that long."

Judith cut in. "You'll wake him up." Oliver's face twitched and scrunched up at the sound of a raised voice. Rita rubbed his forehead gently and began rocking again.

"Estelle, take him, he won't go back to sleep." Despite the methodic swaying, he'd woken up, eyes wide open and staring at everything in open-mouthed awe.

Estelle giggled behind her hand. "But you're so cute with him."

Judith spoke up before Rita could respond. "Estelle, I think we have more in common now than before."

"Really?" She thought back to anything about them that had changed, and what could make her say that.

"Yes, both of us have spent the night with Yuri."

Estelle's face flushed pink, and she suddenly became interested in staring at the top of Oliver's head. "I don't think it entirely counts in my case, Judith."

"Why wouldn't it? You certainly have more proof of it than I do." She smiled as Estelle stammered and struggled to respond. This was not an okay topic, just openly discussing bedding the same man.

As if the nurses had heard Estelle's silent prayers for a distraction, several of them came in, one of them holding a sheet of paper and a notebook. Another noticed Rita and Judith still in the room. "Can we get you two to leave the room?"

Rita glared, silently threatening to level the hospital wing, regardless of the baby she was holding. Estelle quickly spoke up, "I'd really prefer it if they stayed. I'll be telling them everything anyways."

"Actually I should get going." Judith stood and walked to the door. "I have to go wait for Yuri whenever he's done, he'll probably want some company when he's done, if he and Flynn are arguing."

"We'll let you know everything as soon as we can," Estelle told her. "Thanks for coming to see." The nurse gave Rita one last sidelong glance, but was too afraid to say anything else to her, preferring to break protocol if it meant not risking leaving an angry mage loose in the hospital.

"Lady Estellise, we'll need to keep you here for another week." She scanned the paper she held. "You and the baby are both entirely healthy, but we can't risk anything. It might be best if Miss Mordio were to-"

"I'm not going back." She cut the nurse off, staring her down.

"Lady Estellise?"

"I can't make her leave either, if she wants to stay." Estelle shrugged and smiled. "Did you have anything else to say?"

"We'll keep someone posted in this room, in case you need anything. And when we feel your condition has improved enough, you'll be released. Is that alright?" She closed her notebook and looked at Estelle.

"Of course." She glanced at Rita, who seemed silently irritated as long as the nurses were around implying that she should leave Estelle to herself.

"Then we'll take our leave." All but one nurse left, standing in the corner awkwardly.

Almost immediately Rita handed Oliver back to Estelle. "I'm grabbing some books for the both of us." They were clearly going to be here for a long time.

"Miss Mordio, if you'd like I could retrieve-" the nurse offered before being cut off by the sound of the door slamming shut.

"Don't take it personally, she's always like that," Estelle reassured her.

"Lady Estellise, if I may ask…." She danced around the topic, as if finding the best words to use. "That woman is your roommate?"

"Yes. She has been for several years now." It wasn't a secret, as it was common elsewhere for friends to live together. In the castle and nobles' quarter it was almost unheard of, as anybody there could afford to have their own place, but exceptions could be made for a princess.

"I see." It was silent in the room until Rita came back with a large stack of books, setting several on the table next to Estelle and dropping the rest onto the floor. She rubbed Oliver's head softly, as the loud, sudden noises were clearly bothering him. With a book still clutched in one hand, she returned to the chair Judith was using before.

The nurse was sent away some time after, instructed to instead return periodically. Rita found slight enjoyment in sending her away on small tasks every time she came back, whether it was tea, or a new pen, a stack of towels "just in case." It continued even when the next nurse came in for the previous one to go home, confusing the poor woman over why they would possibly need empty glasses just to sit them on the table.

Estelle had long since fallen asleep in the late night hours, and Oliver moved to a crib next to the bed to sleep without risk of rolling off the bed. Rita stayed up hunched over her book, half asleep and one eye closed. A nurse knocked on the door lightly and peeked in, checking on them as she had been.

"What do you want?" Rita lifted her head enough to see who was at the door.

"It's getting late, would you consider moving back to your room?" She tried one last time to clear the room of all visitors.

"I'm not going." It was almost out of spite at this point, although even if they hadn't continuously tried to kick her out, she would have stayed in the room as long as Estelle was unable to go back.

"If you'd like, we can prepare another room for you-" She cringed at the glare she received.

"I'm staying here. Don't come back until morning." The nurse nodded meekly, shutting the door as she left. Rita went back into her book, intent on finishing before sleeping. It was as if she blinked, and when she opened her eyes, the room was brightly lit and Estelle was greeting her to a good afternoon.

"Did you sleep well?" Estelle smiled, having already noticed Rita asleep over the side of the chair, book and pen fallen to the floor.

"I didn't want to leave you here." She yawned widely, stretching over the back of the chair. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes. You really should have gone last night though." Oliver was asleep in his crib, and Estelle instead held an open book from the stack next to her.

"Nah. I think it bothered them more when I stayed." She stood up to sit on the edge of the bed, laying her hand over Estelle's while they were still alone. "Is he doing okay."

"Yes, he's just tired. There have been a lot of nurses in and out checking on him." He breathed heavily as he slept, face pressed into the thin mattress. "I can't wait until we take him home."


	4. Sleeping Arrangements

**Chapter Four: Sleeping Arrangements **

It had been a painful week confined to the hospital with a baby who was too young to do more than scream in the middle of the night. Rita had meant it when she told the nurses she wasn't leaving that room, even if it meant waking up every few hours to put Oliver back to sleep, or to give him to Estelle to feed. Estelle had been on edge and almost irritable between her stabilizing hormones and the broken sleep that came from sleeping next to a baby. The visits from the nurses only served as annoyances until they were finally cleared to leave.

Estelle was thankful to be up and about after a week of being confined to bed. She stood in the waiting room with Oliver in her arms, thrilled to be wearing a proper dress instead of a hospital gown. She carefully handed Oliver to Rita. "You take Oliver and finish his nursery like you were supposed to," Estelle instructed. "I have things to wrap up here and I'll see you when I get home, ok?"

"Don't worry about it," Rita said, looking down at Oliver with a smile. "I bet you can't wait to see your home, huh?"

"Er," one of the nurses said, "we can't really let you leave with him… you're not family…"

Estelle and Rita both glared at the nurse. Estelle knew why they couldn't come out and say Rita was also Oliver's mother, but it still greatly saddened her every time it came up. "I give Rita permission to take him home."

The nurse and doctor in the room shared a nervous glance as Rita's threatening glare deepened. They quickly decided between their skepticism of letting the baby leave with someone who wasn't his mother, and letting Rita stay any longer.

"Perhaps we can make an exception…" the doctor said. Rita was escorted back to her room "just in case" as compromise. It wasn't as if she would kidnap her own son, but it kept the nurses quiet.

When she was gone, Estelle finished filling out all the final paperwork. The last thing she had to fill out was a birth certificate for Oliver. Everything was easy enough, until it came to the part where she had to fill in the two parents. She frowned when she looked at the two blanks, wishing there was some way she could get Rita's name on here. But, the blanks were clearly labelled "mother" and "father". With a sigh, she filled in her own name above "mother", and then the false name Edmund Featherstone above "father". If she couldn't get Rita, she at least wished she could give Yuri some respect as Oliver's father. But that, too, was impossible.

When she was done, the doctor signed it, gave her a copy, and then took the rest of the papers to file in the official castle records. She was offered an escort back to her suite, but Estelle denied it and left on her own.

It was just past sundown when she unlocked the door to her rooms and entered. It had only been a week, but she felt like she hadn't been home in months. So much had changed since she and Rita rushed out of here a week ago. Being a parent was no longer an excited promise of the future but her new reality. She leaned back against the closed door, her heart swelling with excitement. She felt like she was setting out on an even bigger adventure than when she'd left the castle with Yuri for the first time all those years ago.

Rita left the nursery and closed the door behind her. She hadn't noticed Estelle standing at the entrance until she turned around. "Oh, you're back. Everything go ok?"

"Yes!" Estelle said. She walked over to the table and set her copies of the papers down. "I wish I could have listed you as his other official parent, though."

"Don't worry about it," Rita said, skimming though the papers quickly. "_We_ know, and that's all that matters, right?"

Estelle nodded firmly. "Right! So… where's Oliver?"

"I just put him to bed," Rita said.

Estelle started walking to the nursery and Rita said, "He's sleeping right now."

"I know," she said, "I just… want to see him."

"Suit yourself." Rita sat down at the table and pulled over a notebook full of research notes.

Estelle carefully opened the door to the nursery and looked around. Her heart skipped a beat when she couldn't immediately see where her son was. The nursery they'd set up was packed with stuff they'd never bought: gifts from favor-seeking nobles who "just wanted to wish the future prince well." If names were even remembered, it was those whom they particularly would avoid. They were pushed off to one side of the room, with an empty space reserved for a crib. However, a crib was nowhere to be found. Rita had been supposed to go out and get one while Estelle was still in the hospital, but she obviously hadn't.

Fear raced through her chest. She trusted Rita to take care of Oliver, but she couldn't help the primal fear of not knowing where her son was. Then she noticed a large wooden toy chest with the lid sitting open. It had been dragged to an open space by the window, and with trepidation Estelle slowly walked forward. _No way_, she thought. _Even Rita wouldn't_…

A minute later, she stood in the doorway of the nursery. Rita glanced up at her with no concern. In as straight a voice as she could muster, Estelle asked, "Why is Oliver in a box?"

"I told you, he was tired so I put him to bed."

"Rita, you…." There wasn't anything that could be said. Not keeping babies in toy boxes was something she had thought was basic knowledge, and it sounded ridiculous to have to say it. "You can't put him in a box like that!" Sure, Rita had lined the box in blankets to make it soft, but babies simply did not go in boxes.

"He seems to enjoy it." She shrugged. "Are you going to come sit down or not?"

"You can't just blow it off; you were supposed to have this already taken care of." Estelle didn't often get upset with Rita, but her temper was threatening to reach the surface. After she'd gone through nine months of carrying the baby and spent a week in the hospital after delivering him, Rita hadn't even bought the stupid crib yet!

"I stayed in the hospital room to take care of you instead. I didn't even get any work done." She stood up and walked back into the nursery to check on him. She stood by the toy chest and said, "Look, he's still asleep. He's fine."

Estelle followed her over. Oliver was indeed sleeping peacefully, but she said, "That's not the point." She was silent for a moment, finding the words that could even begin to explain what was wrong with the situation. "This is not okay. There are no books that say this is an acceptable substitute."

"I've never had to follow books for anything else. You're really overreacting." Estelle opened her mouth to protest, but Rita threw her hand up to silence her. "Did you hear that?"

"Don't just change the topic like that." Estelle glared, but she never could get an angry emotion across, and she looked instead like she was sulking.

"Someone's coming in." The door clicked shut outside the nursery, and there were definitely footsteps. Estelle whipped her head around in alarm. She wasn't afraid for herself – they had more experience than anyone should ever have in fighting maniacs and assassins and if it was someone dangerous, she almost had to pity them. Almost. Because she didn't know how easily they could fight someone off _and_ prevent any harm coming to Oliver, and that thought terrified her.

"Yooooo! Anyone home?" It was a man's deep voice, and relief flushed over Estelle when she recognized it.

"We could have just knocked," came another familiar voice, laced with agitation.

Rita and Estelle poked their heads out of the nursery and were met with a whole group of people standing in the darkened front room. Flynn was still shifting uncomfortably, clearly wishing the others had just knocked like normal people.

All Rita could manage to say when she saw them standing around was, "What the hell are you all doing here?"

"I just came in to see this baby I heard about," Raven said. "Did we interrupt something private?" He grinned and walked over to them, one arm hiding something behind his back.

"Umm, Raven…" Estelle tried to greet him, but found something more important. "How did you get in here?"

"I picked the lock." Karol stepped forward from the back of the group, but it wasn't like he hadn't been noticeable before. After his growth spurt he'd turned out to be the tallest member of the group – something he never let Yuri forget. "It was Yuri's idea, since none of us had the key."

"Karol it's so good to see you!" Estelle walked past Raven to pull him into a hug. She was only eye level to his chest, now.

"Can we get a light in here?" Yuri asked, looking around the dark room.

Without a word, Rita flipped the switch to illuminate the gas lights. "It wouldn't have been so dark if you had just announced you were coming instead of breaking in."

Yuri laughed at her scowl and then said, "Glad to see Rita didn't hurt you, old man." Yuri patted Raven's shoulder as he walked by and set a bag down on the table.

"Well of course not." Rave grinned cockily. "Old Raven's always had a way with the – wait is that why you sent me in first?"

Yuri smirked. "Of course not. They probably wouldn't hit you in front of a baby."

"Why are you all here?" Estelle said, looking around at the gathered group. Now that she was over her initial shock, she was so happy to see them. It was so uncommon that all of them were able to get together these days.

"We came to see the baby!" Karol said. "Where is he?"

"In the nursery," Rita said, walking back that way with the others trailing after her. "But he's sleeping so shut your traps and don't wake him up."

She opened the door and let the crowd into the room. There were a few awkward stares at first, and then all eyes went to the toy box. No one said anything at first. Judith shared an amused smile with Yuri, Karol looked confused, and Raven stifled a chuckle.

"Lady Estellise, if I may ask," Flynn said hesitantly, "Is that a toy box?"

Estelle silently fumed that Rita's poor choices were being blamed on her. "It was Rita's idea," she said, trying to look angry but only succeeding at looking pouty.

"It's not hurting him," Rita argued defensively. She had just avoided an argument about this, and wasn't about to start it again.

"…I see." Flynn shot Yuri a look, silently insisting that this entire arrangement had been a bad idea.

Yuri returned the look with an annoyed one of his own, and then he changed the subject. "Let's leave the kid to sleep for now. We all brought presents for him; don't you want to see what they are?"

Rita seized this opportunity and said, "Yeah, everybody out of the nursery." She shooed them out, back to the main room where there were a few gifts on the table. "These better be good," Rita said. "We've already been inundated with presents from boot-licking nobles."

"But these are special, Rita," Estelle said with a smile. "These gifts are from our friends."

Karol excitedly held out a small stuffed eggbear. "I brought him this. I hope it doesn't scare him!"

Estelle looked down at the little button eyes and thought that you'd have to be the biggest coward in the world to be frightened of something so benign. She smiled, remembering the day they had first met Karol, and said, "If he grows up with this, I bet he'll grow used to scary monsters and be the bravest man ever."

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Karol said with a grin.

Flynn pushed forward a finely carved wooden sword with a bow tied to the handle. "I thought he might like this when he's old enough to use it."

"Oh, Flynn, it's beautiful," Estelle said. "Isn't it, Rita?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

Judith picked up the bag Yuri had set down earlier and said, "This is from Yuri and I."

Estelle dug through the bag and pulled out a thin blue blanket covered in faded yellow ducks. "Aw, it's so cute," Estelle said.

"It was Yuri's idea," Judith said.

Yuri frowned and crossed his arms. "Nobody told me we were supposed to bring presents until a couple hours ago, so I didn't have time to buy something new and I just grabbed the ducky blanket."

There was a bit of a pause. Yuri's eyes widened in horror as he realized what he'd said.

Karol snickered. "Your…_ducky_ blanket?" Karol emphasized. "Wow, Yuri."

Yuri glared at the lot of them, daring anyone else to laugh. "A woman from the Lower Quarter gave it to me when I was growing up. She called it the ducky blanket and the name just kind of stuck."

Flynn laughed. "You still have that thing, Yuri?"

"Hey, shut up, Flynn," Yuri said. He threateningly added, "I've got more than enough stories about you as a kid."

Flynn looked horrified at the prospect of dredging up childhood stories, and said quickly, "That won't be necessary."

"Sorry it's so old and beat up," Yuri said. "I'll buy him a proper blanket when I have time."

"No," Estelle said, clutching the tattered blanket to her chest. It must have been almost thirty years old. "We really appreciate this, Yuri. We already have more blankets than we know what to do with, but this is the only ducky blanket from the Lower Quarter. I love it."

"You don't have to call it that…"

"I think it's cute," Judith teased.

"Old man, what did you get him?" Yuri could always rely on Raven to get him out of a spot. "You've been holding it behind your back this whole time."

"Ah, Yuri, patience is a virtue you learn with age," Raven sighed. "But I supposed it is my turn, isn't it?" He handed a stack of loose papers bound with string to Estelle. "I thought he could grow into these."

Estelle looked over to Rita questioningly as Rita flipped through the pages. Her expression grew more and more angry the further she got.

"Rita, what is it?" Estelle asked, reaching for the pages.

Rita pulled them out of Estelle's reach and looked up at Raven with fury. "Raven. Did you get Oliver pictures of naked women?"

Estelle immediately dropped her arm from attempting to take the papers from Rita, and turned to Raven with a pink face. The expressions of the rest of the group were priceless. Yuri and Judith's faces lit up with amusement, while Karol and Flynn seemed to be competing to see who could blush redder.

"Isn't it brilliant?" Raven sounded proud. "Everyone got him stuff he'll grow out of, so that's where old Raven's gift comes in. Until then I figure they can't go ta waste if you two ladies would like-"

Rita slammed her fist into the side of his face as he spoke, effectively silencing him. Nobody moved to help him, since the general consensus in the group was that he deserved it. Rita quickly channeled enough mana to cast a small Fire Ball, turning the pages to ash.

"Ya could've given it back if ya didn't like it," Raven pouted, rubbing his cheek. "No need ta waste such beautiful imagery."

"Shut up, Raven." Rita waved him off.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Yuri said, reaching into his pocket. "This one's from Repede." He set a small bone down on the table. "He saw everyone else getting presents together and didn't want to feel left out."

Estelle picked up the bone, which had been chewed clean. "That was very nice of him."

"Also, Lady Estellise," Flynn said, "don't worry about the crib. Yuri and I will take care of that."

"Will we?" Yuri asked, looking over.

"You guys don't have to," Rita said. "I'll get around to it eventually."

"Please," Flynn said, "I would feel a lot better replacing that toy box. And, after all, Yuri can take a little responsibility for this considering…" he glanced around at Karol and Raven.

"Oh, yeah," Raven said, leaned against the wall. "Since he's the kid's dad and all."

Flynn looked at him in shock, and then looked around at how the rest of the group was no in shock. "Wait, all of you know about that?"

"Sure," Karol said. "We don't keep secrets from each other in Brave Vesperia."

"Yuri told me about it before he had even decided to go through with it," Judith said.

Flynn looked to Yuri in annoyance. "You told everyone else except for me?"

Yuri shrugged. "Yeah."

Flynn looked annoyed, so Estelle quickly tried to defuse the situation before an actual argument could erupt. "We haven't all been together in a long time. We should catch up."

"I'm game to stay." Raven had always done his best to spend as much time with the two as he could. Estelle was happy that he was friendly, except Rita always got annoyed and said that she didn't think Raven's interest in their relationship was entirely friendly. Estelle wasn't exactly sure what Rita meant by that.

"Me too, I don't have to be back in Dahngrest for a while." Karol didn't often visit due to how busy he was with running Brave Vesperia. Whenever he had the opportunity to take a break, he took it.

"Great!" Estelle led them into the living room while Rita left everything in Oliver's room. They sat around sharing stories and catching up on each other's lives late into the night, occasionally joined by Oliver whenever he started to cry and Estelle brought him out to calm him down. She didn't even care that she'd inevitably be dead tired the next day – it was worth it to spend time with her friends.

* * *

"Why is this taking so long?" Yuri asked, dragging his feet through the doors of yet another furniture shop. He had told Judith he wouldn't be gone long, but it had been two hours already and they still hadn't found a crib.

"Because you got us kicked out of the last store," Flynn said, glaring at him.

Yuri scowled. "Did you see how the salesman was treating that woman? She clearly had the money to buy one of those fancy cribs, but just because she doesn't actually live in the Noble Quarter they were giving her a hard time!"

Flynn sighed. "Yes, but that doesn't mean you had to start shouting at the salesman in the middle of the store."

"Yeah, well he deserved it," Yuri said stubbornly. They were now in their third shop of the day, because Yuri had made a fuss at the first one when he discovered how expensive cribs were. After a heated argument over how they thought they could get away with charging so much for some pieces of wood and a mattress, the manage had not-so politely asked that if they didn't like their prices to please leave.

"If you want to get this over with," Flynn said as they headed to the baby furniture section, "then do me a favour and just keep your mouth closed this time."

Yuri glared, but did as asked if it meant getting out of here faster. He still didn't know why getting this crib was his responsibility. He was all for helping Estelle and Rita, but he would prefer it if helping people didn't involve shopping, and especially if it wasn't shopping in the noble quarter. Flynn had insisted, though, explaining that if he had to go out and take care of business, he preferred to stay in either the Noble Quarter or the Lower one because that's where he got the least hassled. In the Noble Quarter, everyone was too high ranking to be overly impressed at the commandant to stop and stare in awe, and in the Lower Quarter too many people still remembered his dorky childhood years.

"Can't we just get this one?" Yuri asked when they reached the cribs. They all looked pretty much the same to him."

"No," Flynn said. "The slats are too far apart and Oliver could get his head stuck."

Yuri stared at the bars of the crib. They looked fine to him, but unlike Flynn, he hadn't spent the previous afternoon researching crib safety guides. Yuri had no idea where Flynn found the time to do that as well as all his work as the commandant, but he had a feeling it involved fewer meals than Yuri was comfortable with. But, he supposed it just wouldn't be Flynn if he didn't go out of his away to read all the rules and safety guidelines beforehand.

"Ok, so how about this one?" Yuri asked, pointing at the next one on the floor.

"No, the mattress isn't big enough and leaves a gap. Oliver could get stuck at the edge and suffocate."

It seemed to Yuri that there was a severe design flaw in babies, because from the way Flynn talked they could kill themselves with a piece of string. They seemed to have fewer survival instincts than the monsters that challenged Yuri to a fight.

"Why are they so expensive, anyway?" Yuri grumbled. Flynn had informed him that they were splitting the cost of the crib, which didn't seem fair since Flynn had significantly more gald then Yuri.

"Cheap cribs are poorly made. This is the safety of Oliver we're talking about. Isn't it worth it?"

"Yeah, but don't all babies deserve a safe bed, not just the rich ones?"

Flynn sighed. "Please don't start a revolution in the baby furniture industry, Yuri. I don't have the manpower to deal with this right now."

"It's not right," Yuri grumbled. "You shouldn't have to worry that your kid is going to kill himself because you can't afford a fancy crib." He was more antagonistic than usual today, most because he didn't like shopping.

"I'll add universal crib safety codes to my ever-expanding list of things to accomplish, alright?"

"Yeah, sure," Yuri said.

To his displeasure, a salesman noticed them and immediately hurried over. "Good afternoon sir, can I – oh, Sir Commandant! Welcome to our shop; how can I assist you?"

Flynn glared at Yuri, warning him to keep quiet this time. "No, thank you. I think we can browse on our own."

"Of course, sir. If you would simply allow me, on behalf of our entire store, to congratulate you on the new addition to your family."

Flynn looked puzzled. "I'm not sure what you mean."

The salesman looked between Flynn and Yuri with surprise. "Ah, I'm sorry sir, I just assumed that you and your wife had had a child, since you're buying a crib. Although, I didn't even know you were married, Commandant."

"Wife? What? I'm not married."

Yuri rolled his eyes, wishing the salesman would just shut up before he dug himself deeper. Yuri was tempted to speak up, but he remembered what Flynn said and kept his mouth shut. An argument wasn't worth getting thrown out of yet another store.

"Oh," the salesman said, has hand going to his mouth. "Forgive me, sir, I meant your girlfriend."

Flynn's puzzlement increased. "I don't have a girlfriend…"

Yuri ignored Flynn's warning. He wasn't going to take this anymore. His patience had worn so thin he couldn't hold back his irritation any longer. He crossed his arms and glared at the salesman. "Who are you calling his girlfriend?"

The salesman's jaw dropped. "O-oh! I'm so sorry, sir, I – I just assumed…"

"Maybe you should stop assuming before you make even more of an ass of yourself," Yuri said. "And while I'm at it, maybe you can explain why you think it's fair to charge people an arm and a leg so that their babies won't kill themselves."

"I'm not sure what you mean, sir."

"You heard me! Shouldn't safety features just be standard issue? We're talking about kids' lives here."

"Yuri…" Flynn said, giving him an irritated look.

Yuri was too pissed off, both from the stupid prices, the stupid shopping, and the stupid salesman mistaking him for a woman, to heed Flynn. "How hard can it be to make a crib that's not a death trap?"

"Wait a minute, Yuri?" the salesman asked. "I recognize you now! You're Yuri Lowell."

"Yeah, and I'm pissed off," Yuri said. "These cribs are ridiculously overpriced. I mean, eight thousand gald for a bed the kid will outgrow in two years? How do you think you can get away with that?"

"Drop it, Yuri," Flynn said. "We can afford it."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the salesman said.

"Already?!" Yuri said. "But I'm just getting started!"

"Three years ago, you threw a rock at the owner's head when he was rounding up a couple pickpockets."

Flynn glared at Yuri with renewed fury. "You what?"

"You've been banned from store premises. Please leave or I will have to call security."

Flynn grabbed Yuri's arm before he could argue anymore. "Come on, Yuri, we're leaving."

Yuri shot a look of poison over his shoulder at the salesman before Flynn dragged him outside onto the street. When they were out, Yuri said, "Good riddance. I wouldn't want to give them my money anyway."

"Really, Yuri?" Flynn said. "You threw a rock at the owner's head?"

"It was just a couple kids!" Yuri said. "He was trying to arrest them and they only stole a few gald. I gave the kids a talking to about stealing afterward and everything was fine. Well, the store owner had a bandage around his head for a few weeks, but he was fine."

Flynn sighed heavily, not about to start a fight over something that had happened over three years ago. Yuri could tell he was pretty angry, though.

"Besides, that salesman was an idiot," Yuri said. "How could he mistake me for your _wife_?"

"Maybe you should get a haircut."

"What are you, my mother?"

"Well, I hope you're happy because that was the last furniture store in the Noble Quarter."

"There are plenty of places to by furniture elsewhere in the city. It's not a big deal. Obviously the children in the Public Quarter survive."

"We don't really have any other choice," Flynn said.

An hour later, Flynn and Yuri made their way back through the castle, carrying a heavy create between them.

"Watch out for the stairs," Flynn said, seconds before Yuri tripped over them.

He craned his neck and looked down at the staircase, and then carefully started walking up backward. "Why do I have to go backwards?"

"Because it's your fault we had to carry it all the way from the Public Quarter, and your fault we didn't buy one from a store that sends works to your house to put it together for you."

"Always so accusatory, Flynn," Yuri said. "Besides, I don't know why you're so picky about this crib. No matter what we got it would have been a step up from the toy box he's in now."

"You think the bare minimum is good enough for your own son?"

"Not my son," Yuri said. He had no idea how many times he was going to need to remind Flynn of this. "All I'm saying is that I'm pretty sure a fancy, padded toy box would have been an improvement over my sleeping arrangements when I was a kid, and I turned out just fine."

They reached the door, and Yuri allowed his side of the crate to fall to the ground with relief. Once he put down his side, Flynn was unable to keep holding up his side, and it ripped from his fingers and to the floor.

"Ugh, Yuri!" he said in frustration.

Yuri ignored him and knocked on the door. He could hear Oliver crying through the door. It took almost a minute for the door to open, but when it did he was met by a very frazzled Rita. Her hair was messed up and she had bags under her eyes.

"Crib delivery," Yuri said.

"Oh, thanks," Rita said. "Just put it-" She paused to yawn deeply. "Put it in the nursery."

Yuri grabbed his end and he and Flynn carefully maneuvered the box inside. In the front room, Estelle stood with a crying Oliver in her arms. She was still in her night gown, and there were tears in her eyes. She was rocking back and forth, rubbing Oliver's back, but the baby kept crying.

"I don't know why he won't stop crying!" Estelle said. "I don't know what to do!"

"He's been at this for hours," Rita said once Flynn and Yuri had put the crate with the crib down in the nursery. She rubbed her eyes and then said, "He stops every now and then but then wakes up crying again. We haven't gotten much sleep."

"May I try, Lady Estellise?" Flynn asked, walking over to her.

Estelle sniffled, obviously devastated that she couldn't soothe her own son. "O-ok."

Flynn took the crying baby in his arms, balancing him against his shoulder and rubbing his back. "Sh…" he said. "Stop making your moms worry."

Oliver paused in his crying, and everyone looked at Flynn with hope. Then Oliver hiccupped, spewing spit up all over Flynn's shirt. He immediately resumed crying.

"Oh, no!" Estelle said, her hands going to her mouth. "Oh, Flynn, your shirt!"

"That's, uh, that's alright," Flynn said, looking down at the mess on his shirt. He wasn't in his uniform today, but with his post as commandant came an image to uphold even off-duty, so the shirt in question was fairly expensive.

"Take him, Yuri," Estelle said, rushing to Flynn's said.

"Wha-" before he could protest, Flynn handed the baby over. Yuri cradled him in his arms, not really sure what to do with him.

"Let me put that in the laundry for you!" Estelle said, grabbing at Flynn's shirt. "I'm so sorry! He does that sometimes. It washes right off."

"Ah, Lady Estellise, you don't have to-"

Estelle was too busy trying to pull Flynn's shirt off his back so she could wash it to listen to his flustered protests.

"Hey, Estelle," Yuri said, speaking up over Oliver's cries. "Maybe you should stop trying to undress the commandant."

Estelle froze with Flynn's shirt in her hands, halfway up his torso. She suddenly realized what she was doing, and in a second her face turned even pinker than Flynn's. "Oh." She jerked back as if Flynn's shirt was suddenly made of fire. "I – I'm sorry Flynn! It's been a really long day…"

Flynn straightened his shirt and attempted to regain his composure. "It – it's quite alright, Lady Estellise."

Oliver let out another wail, which was quickly grating on Yuri's nerves. He looked down at Oliver and said, "Hey! Shut up. No one wants to hear that."

Oliver closed his mouth and stared up at Yuri. Yuri stared back at him, daring him to start crying again.

"Yuri!" Flynn said. "You can't tell a baby to shut up."

Rita walked over to Yuri and said, "It worked, didn't it?" She took Oliver out of Yuri's arm, to his great relief. "I'm going to go lie him down. Maybe he'll finally go to sleep."

"If you would excuse me," Flynn said, "I'm going to return to my quarters and put on a different shirt. I'll be back soon to help assemble the crib, though."

"Ok," Estelle said. "I'm so sorry again, Flynn."

"It's not a problem," he said, and then left the room.


	5. Flynn's Very Bad Day

**Chapter Five: Flynn's Very Bad Day**

With Flynn gone, the three of them were left with a tired baby and a box of wood. Yuri pulled the lid off the crate and dumped everything out. It was just a bunch of wooden slats, large panels, and a paper pouch of screws. Somehow the pieces scattered across the floor would make a crib that would safely hold a baby.

"So, how does this all go together, Yuri?" Rita looked at the pieces at their feet. "You saw them in the store, right?"

"They didn't look like this." He picked up a plank. "This has a hole in it, so I guess you have to attach it somewhere else."

"Great observation," Rita said, rolling her eyes. "So where does it attach?"

"I'll figure it out soon enough."

"Take all the pieces and sort them out, work from there," she told him. It was almost like science, probably impossible to do unless everything was in order and easily located.

Yuri tossed several of the smaller planks to one side of the room, putting aside the larger ones that were obviously the frame.

"Yuri, wait." Estelle called for his attention, sifting through the pile of slats. "These are different sizes."

"I'm not working with those right now anyways." He shrugged, staring down the wood as he mentally assembled it before attempting to put anything together. "We can sort them when I'm done with this."

"Do it now so you can get what you need sooner," Rita commanded, already fed up with Yuri's attitude.

"Look, when I need it, I'll go through and pick one that fits. I don't need it yet." He shrugged, aligning random planks with each other until he found a position that worked.

"Dammit, Yuri, just get them sorted out!" Rita dropped the stack she was holding and they clattered to the floor. Oliver must have heard them, as he began crying before they settled. She pressed her face into her hand, feeling a bit guilty. "Not again…."

Estelle panicked and rushed away. "I've got him."

"What's got you so upset?" Yuri asked her, yelling to be heard over Estelle hushing the baby.

"This wouldn't be a problem if he just stayed in the box." As Oliver's wailing grated on her ears, she took a moment to blame Yuri. He was, after all, responsible for Oliver's existence, and she didn't see anything wrong with blaming him for the painful wailing on him while still being thankful.

"Rita, we aren't doing that!" It was rare that Estelle raised her voice, although she might have only yelled to be heard over the screaming and crying.

"Just someone make him shut up!" Yuri dropped the boards to hold his hands over his ears.

"I'm trying, I don't know what to do!" Estelle wiped her eyes on her shoulder as she bounced him, trying to not cry along with him. "Rita you take him."

"I don't know what to do either." She sat down to sort out the piles like she had been telling Yuri to do.

"Somebody shut him up then. I can't concentrate with this noise." Yuri had apparently given up on trying to assemble it entirely.

Estelle buried her face into Oliver's shoulder and yelled something that was muffled both by his body and crying, still bouncing rhythmically as she leaned against an empty wall for support. Rita turned to Yuri angrily. "Go do something about him."

"Like what?" He shrugged, hands still at the sides of his head despite the fact that he could still obviously hear. "I don't know how to quiet a baby!"

"I don't know!" Rita shouted over both Oliver's scream and Estelle's frantic pleads for him to be quiet. She and Estelle had been up half the night trying to figure out how to make him stop crying, so she didn't hold much hope for herself suddenly having a break through. "Figure something out if you aren't going to put this together." She didn't exactly have any ideas, but standing there was hardly productive.

"I'll work on it when it's quiet." He stood still stubbornly, pressing his hands harder to his ears as if it would block everything out.

"Dammit, Yuri!" She was trying to work through the chaos and had been for hours, and he only just got there. None of the books had prepared either of them for the reality of taking care of an actual baby. If any of them were accurate, surely there would be fewer first-time parents.

* * *

Flynn walked back to Estelle and Rita's suite, wearing a new shirt. He had tried to find a more casual work shirt, but had discovered that somewhere along the line all of his clothing had been replaced with either expensive formal wear or official knight garments. He was in uniform so often he hardly ever noticed it. He didn't want to wear anything fancy, so the best he could do was a stiff training shirt he usually wore under chainmail.

Despite his wardrobe troubles, he was in a good mood. Perhaps crib-shopping had gotten a shaky start, but they had the crib. Not even Yuri could mess up something as simple as putting wood together with written instructions. And even if the others did have trouble, he felt confident he at least could sort it out. It would be pretty sad if the commandant of the knights couldn't follow a simple instruction manual.

He had left Estelle's door unlocked on his way out, so he knocked and then opened it. "Hello?" he said as he entered, and received no reply. Immediately he was hit with the sound of Oliver's cries; unsurprising, given his age. What he didn't expect was the storm of angry words louder than the baby, coming from Rita and Yuri. Some arguing was to be expected – neither of them were wholly agreeable people – but this sounded dangerous.

He rounded the corner into the nursery, standing up tall as if speaking to soldiers. Even after years in the military, he wasn't prepared for what was in front of him. Yuri had a thin plank of wood in his hand, dangerously close to the length of a sword. Rita was in front of him, standing on her toes in a poor attempt to get in his face. He couldn't tell what either of them were saying, because they were screaming over each other's words. Estelle was in the corner, crying into Oliver's shirt and rocking back and forth as he screamed. None of them had noticed he had arrived.

Flynn took a deep breath, and then, in a voice he usually reserved for battle fields and training grounds, commanded, "Everybody quiet down!" He was no stranger to filling a room with his voice and presence alone, and it was sorely needed here. They silenced immediately, staring at him, other than a red-faced Oliver still intent on winning the screaming match he wasn't aware had ended. "What happened while I was gone?" This was indescribable, watching three adults bickering like violent children over something so small.

"Nothing. I had everything under control." Yuri dropped the wood and shrugged, glaring at Flynn for interrupting.

"Yuri…." Flynn froze, speechless. If there was one word that described the state of the room, control was its complete opposite. "Yuri, what exactly happened here? And please, somebody take Oliver and calm him down." Holding a conversation was impossible with him crying in the background, but he was reluctant to take him. He feared the chaos they might descend into if he had to go change his shirt again.

Rita groaned and turned away from Yuri to take Oliver out of Estelle's arms, bouncing as usual. He regressed into a state of choking and hiccupping as he forced shout after shout. She rubbed his back, trying to shush him.

Yuri threw his arms up as he answered. "It wasn't that bad. Kids always cry like that. We were just trying to put this thing together and had a little disagreement."

"Like hell it was just a 'disagreement'!" Rita snapped, drawing her eyes away from Oliver to shoot daggers at Yuri. Thankfully, Oliver had worn himself out after hours of crying as hard as he could, and all he was doing now was grunting softly into Rita's shoulder.

"Please, Miss Mordio, it doesn't matter at this point." Flynn raised his hand and decided that how they reached this stage was irrelevant. He could still fix this. "We still need to build this. Where is the instruction manual?"

"There wasn't one, that's why I was doing my best to put it together," Yuri explained.

Flynn sighed, certain that Yuri had simply lost it. At the very least, Rita didn't have another outburst so he clearly hadn't hidden it. Feeling like he was talking to children, Flynn said, "What did you do with the box it was in?"

Yuri pointed his thumb behind him. "I dumped it out over there." Flynn walked over to the pile of wood and kicked most of it aside, revealing a small stack of papers underneath.

"We're following this," he commanded, holding up the instructions. "Put Oliver down to sleep, and sort these out by size before we can get anywhere."

Rita stared down Yuri as she lowered Oliver back into the box now that he had exhausted himself.

Yuri argued, "Do we really need an instruction booklet? It's just a box with sticks coming out."

"Improperly-built cribs have killed more than one child; we're doing this correctly." Flynn picked up the bundle of the frame panels Yuri pulled out and set them off to the side.

Estelle gave Flynn a scared look, and then looked to Yuri defiantly. "We have to build it the right way, Yuri." She pulled out the small slats for the side of the crib, looking at Yuri as if she was going to start crying again if anything else went wrong. She still hadn't changed out of her nightgown, which slightly bothered Flynn because being around a princess in her nightdress didn't seem appropriate at all. It would be even more inappropriate for him to tell her to go get changed, though.

"Alright, alright." Yuri's irritated expression softened when he saw how upset Estelle was. He didn't argue anymore, clearly not wanting to be the one to make Estelle start crying again. He began silently sorting through the boards while Flynn skimmed through the pages, sure that with all of them together, they could pull this off.

Flynn picked up a large headboard piece and began working. "Yuri, would you hand me the screws and hold this up?"

"So now you know what you're doing better than I do?" He was clearly frustrated, but tried to hold it in and carefully put the pieces down; there was still a volatile screamer in the room, even if he was asleep.

"I have the instructions, so yes. Hold this here for me." Flynn knelt down to screw it in place. They had a system worked out shortly, where Yuri and Rita held the frame steady while he screwed everything together, taking turns bringing the pieces back as needed.

"You wanna take a break?" Yuri asked after a while as he stood up and leaned back to stretch. The frame was complete, and all four legs were firmly on the ground.

"Don't tell me you're already tired." Flynn stayed kneeling on the ground.

"I just don't want to think about this right now; we've been at it all day." The sun was already going down, and a few minutes ago Rita had lit the oil lamp sitting on the nightstand so they could still see the screws in the fading light. It wasn't as good as the old blastia lamps had been, but obviously that wasn't an option anymore.

Yuri was already at the doorway leaving the room. "Besides, I think Estelle needs the break more than any of us."

Estelle had taken to holding Oliver while he slept and sitting against the wall after Rita and Flynn insisted she sit back. She was easily the most frazzled of the group, panicking over small things and shaking too much to be help. Although they knew she meant well, things were going too smoothly for interference.

"Ten minutes, Yuri," Flynn told him before he was out of earshot. Rita took the opportunity to sit with Estelle while she wasn't needed, wrapping her arm around her and resting her head on her shoulder. Flynn, however, needed no break and continued to work.

Yuri came back about five minutes later with a glass of water and looked down at Flynn with a smirk. "What a shining example of diligence our commandant is," he remarked.

Flynn chose to ignore Yuri's sarcastic tone, because if he got mad at Yuri every time he was needlessly snarky, he'd find himself in a perpetual state of anger. "Hand me the screws, please, Yuri. I dropped them right there." The manual hadn't been lying when it said it was a two-person job, and he had contorted himself over the side, bracing the wood against his hip and shoulder.

"Hm, I don't know," Yuri said, cocking an eyebrow. "You don't often see the commandant in such a compromising position." He held the bag just out of Flynn's reach.

"Just give it here." He reached his arm out and leaned forward to try and grab the bag himself. It was quite a stretch, and he barely grabbed the corner of the bag before falling back. With a loud tear, the bag split in half, spilling the screws across the floor. They scattered, rolling under furniture or disappearing into the thick carpet. Flynn stared at the empty half of bag he held for a second, and then said, "Dammit, Yuri, you should've just handed them to me!"

"What, you're blaming me?" Yuri knelt down to grab one and hand it to Flynn so he could secure the panel before standing up. "You're the one who ripped it."

"Because you wouldn't give it to me." He tightened the screw and stood. "Help me pick them up." Small objects like that were a choking hazard, and could not be left on the nursery floor.

"There aren't any extra screws in there, we'll find them as we need them." Yuri picked up the next panel needed and held it out to Flynn.

Estelle must have been listening to their conversation, as she agreed with Flynn that they needed to be off the floor. In a tired voice she said, "Yuri, please pick them up."

"It'll be fine, we'll go over the carpet when we're done just to make sure." Nobody had significantly raised their voices, but Oliver must have noticed. He woke up, staring at Estelle.

"Work more quietly, guys," Rita whispered in a panic. It wasn't enough; Oliver started fussing at the sound of her voice.

Estelle held him close, frantic and struggling to be calm. "It's okay Oliver, it's just Mommy, you don't need to cry. Please stop crying." She stroked his head, trying to shush him.

"It's kind of warm and stuffy in here," Yuri said in as quiet a voice as he could. "Maybe that's what he's fussing about? We could try opening the window." He walked to the window and pushed it open, letting in the cool night air.

"You're only letting everybody out there hear him." Rita didn't sound like she pitied the nobles outside despite her protests.

"Not my problem." Yuri looked at Oliver, who hadn't quieted one bit. "Come on, Oliver, feel the nice breeze. Doesn't that feel good?"

Oliver whined, but at least he wasn't screaming yet. Estelle hugged him tightly, doing everything in her power to soothe him. Rita leaned over, doing what she could to help.

Yuri sighed, and then turned to Flynn. "Flynn, give me your shoe."

"What?" Flynn wasn't sure how to respond to such a random request, but he trusted Yuri had a good reason. He leaned down and pulled it off, and then and tossed it into Yuri's hands. "Why do you need it?"

"The bag for the screws ripped, so we need a place to store them."

That wasn't the good reason Flynn had been looking for. The screws needed to be put somewhere, but there had to be a better place than his shoe. "Give me my shoe back, Yuri."

Yuri grinned cockily and held it behind his back. "No, you ripped the bag, pay with your shoe."

"It was your fault I ripped it – use your own shoe."

"First of all, no it wasn't. Second, my boots wouldn't make a good container because they're hard to reach into."

"Just hand it over, Yuri. I don't want my foot unprotected when you still have picked up all the sharp screws off the ground."

"Nope," Yuri said, backing up as Flynn approached him, intent on taking it back by force if he had to.

Flynn reached out and tried to grab it, but Yuri twisted way out of reach. "Give it back!" He grabbed Yuri's arm, but Yuri slipped out of his grasp and stepped back. Yuri stumbled, catching himself on the windowsill while he held his arm back.

"I'm serious, Yuri!" Oliver was clearly upset that it got loud, and his whines got a bit louder.

"Keep it down!" Rita whispered as loudly as she dared.

Flynn tried to grab his shoe out of Yuri's hand again, shoving him back.

"Flynn, get off I'm gonna-" Yuri fell back, nearly stumbling out the window but catching his balance just in time. Much to Flynn's dismay, Yuri dropped the shoe to do so, and he watched as it fell into the bushes several levels below. "Didn't mean to do that," was all Yuri said as they leaned over and looked down.

Flynn was speechless, barely able to comprehend that Yuri had just stolen his shoe and dropped it out the window. Yuri broke the silence for him. "Hey, give me your other shoe."

"No way are you getting this one." He held more weight on his right side and stepped back a bit, guarding his foot.

"Do you really have anything else to lose with that shoe?" Yuri unfortunately had a point; he wasn't getting that other shoe back, and they still needed a place to hold the screws. Grumbling, he threw his remaining shoe at him.

"Miss Mordio, could you help us find the screws?" He could still salvage this, even if he was standing around in his socks. They _would_ get this finished.

She stood from trying to help Estelle calm Oliver, who had apparently decided it wasn't worth it to cry now that nobody else was being loud. Luckily none of the screws had scattered too far, and after they were gathered they could easily slip back into the previous arrangement. The pieces were sorted, the frame was already done – this should be no issue at all for a man who led the country's entire military force.

Yuri took a piece and began screwing it onto the frame. Flynn noticed and told him, "Yuri, you don't have the instructions."

"This piece goes here." It was identical to all the other pieces they were lining up for the cage wall, but that didn't mean he could just go on his own without reading the directions.

"That's not the point, something else may have gone there." If he let him ignore the instructions here, he could ignore them later with something more dangerous than a row of slats.

"Are you telling me I'm wrong?"  
"I'm telling you to at least look at this before you do anything irreversible."

"Both of you shut the hell up." Rita was visibly annoyed with the both of them for arguing over something small. They looked to her, almost having forgotten she was there. She took the instructions and glanced at the step they were on. "Flynn, the instructions only say to take these and line them up like that. Is it really necessary to look at this before every piece?"

Flynn bowed his head, embarrassed at his actions. "Alright, I admit that was too far."

Yuri laughed at him briefly, returning to the piece he was working on. "What a noble cause for overreaction, worrying about a baby like that."

Flynn glared, but said nothing while they worked.

Rita had taken charge while Flynn cooled his head enough to deal with Yuri civilly. "What's the next step?" she asked

Flynn flipped to the next page and looked down at the paper, and is heart fell. No way. They had just gotten back on track, this had to be a joke. He flipped back, wondering if he'd missed something. Then he flipped through all the rest of the pages and confirmed his horror, and had one question. "Yuri, do you speak any Krityan?"

"Nah, Judy has no reason to speak it at home. Why do you ask?" He craned his neck to get a look at the instructions for himself.

"We can do this, there are still diagrams," Flynn said, more to himself than the others. He took a deep breath, refusing to let his temper surface again. He could handle this. He liked having set guidelines to follow, but there were no diagrams or instruction papers for leading an army and he managed that just fine.

Rita snatched it out of his hand. "You can't mean – why is this even written in Krityan? Nobody in Zaphias speaks that. You must have lost the other half."

"There is no other half," Flynn said. "That's all we have. There must have been a mix-up and now the second half of the instruction manual is in Krityan." What was the point of instructions if they couldn't even come in the right language? No, he wasn't going to start shouting again. That wouldn't help. He looked down at the manual, ignoring the incomprehensible text and focusing on the pictures. "It looks like this is for the latches on the side. We'll have to screw these in up on the edges of the railing."

"The instructions for how to keep him locked in the crib aren't even in a language everybody in Zaphias speaks?" Yuri tightly gripped the board he held. "What if he falls out because we can't assemble it properly?"

"What, so _now_ you're worried about the lack of instructions?"

"It's the principle of the thing. Other people might have the same problem."

"Just… don't worry about it right now. There are pictures." Flynn sighed, not wanting to go through this again.

"But not everybody could do this! What if a baby dies because he falls out?" He glared as Oliver began screaming again.

"Dammit, Yuri keep your voice down!" Rita was hardly taking her own advice.

"No, no, no," Estelle said, hugging Oliver tighter to her chest. "Shhhh, shhhh, Oliver, sweetie, please stop crying. It's ok, please stop crying…" Oliver paid her no heed, his face turning red from all the screaming.

"Oliver, please!" Estelle sobbed openly now. She looked to Rita in despair. "I can't get him to stop crying. I'm a horrible mother."

"No, Estelle, don't say that." Rita turned back to her with a worried look. "You're a wonderful mom."

"He won't stop! Rita, I can't be his mom, he won't be quiet! I can't do this!"

"Estelle, calm down, you're a good mom." She left Yuri and Flynn to sit by Estelle, who had started crying again.

Flynn desperately wanted to get this crib finished. He worried he might suffer permanent hearing loss if he stayed in the room with the screaming infant any longer. "Yuri, we'll discuss this later. Hand me the latches." He turned his attention back to the crib, trying to understand the instructions from just the pictures.

"The directions are useless, Flynn, we don't need them." Yuri fastened the latches to the frame.

"Yuri, that's not where it says to put them… I think." Flynn tried to take the piece of wood away from Yuri, and then Yuri backed out of his reach, stumbling over a pile of wood behind him. His arms whirled, trying to find something to catch himself on, and then he fell into the end table. The narrow table toppled over when he hit it, sending the oil lamp that was on it crashing to the floor.

"Oh, dammit!" Yuri kicked himself off the floor and tried to stamp out the fire that had sprouted up on the carpet.

Rita leapt to her feet, all thoughts of comforting gone from her mind. "Estelle, get Oliver out of here!" Estelle needed no further direction and dashed from the room with Oliver in her arms. Rita began channeling mana, a blue glow starting at her feet.

"No don't!" Flynn reacted quickly, knowing he couldn't stop her in time with words. He tackled Rita, leaving them both on the ground.

"What the hell was that for?!" Rita shouted with him still on her chest. "It's going to spread!"

Flynn stood and lifted Rita to her feet in one motion. Yuri had grabbed a blanket from the side and was beating the fire with it, trying to put it out.

"It's an oil fire, water will only make it worse." He glanced around, running through ideas of what could be used to put it out before it spread too far. Luckily it was burning through the oil before spreading through the carpet, but the amount of oil that had been in the lamp wouldn't last much longer.

"Stop it, Yuri!" Rita shouted. Yuri was still trying to put the fire out with the blanket, but it wasn't very effective.

"At least I'm trying something!" Yuri shouted back.

"You're going to make it worse!" Flynn shouted.

"Don't let it touch the crib!"

"I'm trying!"

"Flynn, go get water!"

"Did you not just hear me say that would make it worse?!"

"Someone put that fire out before the whole nursery burns down!"

"Oh my."

Flynn barely heard the new voice from behind him. He spun around and saw Judith standing in the doorway, her eyebrows raised slightly. He could only imagine what they looked like to someone who missed the previous goings on; Estelle in the hallway crying as much as Oliver, him panicking in the middle of the room in his socks, Rita yelling her head off, and Yuri swinging a burning blanket around a windmill.

There wasn't time to ask her what she was doing here. She took a second to survey the room, and then said, "Flynn, lift up your arms."

He stared at her dumbly, too frantic to do anything but listen as he threw his arms in the air. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and yanked upwards, undressing him instantly. His arms flew down as he tried to catch it, dumbstruck at what her plan could even be, but she had already walked away.

"Judy why are you holding Flynn's shirt?" Yuri sounded far more confused than accusatory, and he dropped the blanket onto the floor as it was doing nothing.

Judith easily laid Flynn's thick shirt flat over the fire and stomped on it, effectively smothering the fire. The sudden silence in the room was deafening as all the adults stopped screaming at each other. Even Oliver quieted down a bit. They all stared at Judith, who calmly knelt and picked the shirt back up.

"I'm sorry about your shirt; it was the closest thing I could get." She handed it back to him, burnt and coated with soot.

Flynn looked down at the burned mess of his shirt, wondering how he'd managed to damage two shirts in one day. He crossed his arms over his bare chest as he flushed a light pink as he realized he was standing in Lady Estellise's home half-naked. "It's fine. The important thing is that the fire is out and no one was hurt."

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Rita asked her, now holding Oliver as Estelle clung to her side like a scared rabbit.

"The door was unlocked, and I heard screaming." Judith spoke as if she had seen a puppy in the room rather than the chaos it had been. "Yuri said he wouldn't be long, but it's been several hours so I came to find him."

"Sorry, we ended up having to help put the thing together," Yuri shrugged.

"Because you got us kicked out of every other store." Flynn still hadn't gotten over that.

"Is there any way I can help?" Judith asked.

Flynn suddenly realized that they did need Judith, and kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. "As a matter of fact, yes. Judith, can you read Krityan?"

She nodded.

"These instructions change to Krityan halfway through, and we don't understand them anymore."

"Well that sounds like a strange way to write them." She took the papers and looked at the step Flynn pointed at. "But I can read this."

Flynn sighed in relief. This was more trouble than he'd ever put into such a mundane task, but they were going to do this and get it done.

With Judith's help, Yuri was more willing to listen to the instructions. Oliver wore himself out for good and had gone back to sleep in his box while they built the crib. There was great celebration when they were finally done and Rita gently moved the sleeping baby from the toy box to the crib. At long last their task was complete, though Flynn worried about just what situation they'd have gotten into if Judith hadn't decided to search for Yuri.

"Put these on the shelf up there." Flynn volunteered himself and Yuri to take care of cleanup while Rita and Estelle made sure Oliver was settled in. They had asked them to leave the tools and instructions on a shelf in the living area.

Yuri reached up and put the small wrenches on the top shelf, standing on tiptoe to reach because he had refused Flynn's suggestion to find a step stool. As he came back down, he accidently smacked his hand into an unseen glass. The glass jar fell over, spilling its contents. "Whoa, whoops!"

Flynn didn't have time to look up before something cold and wet hit his head and dripped onto his bare chest.

"Yuri… what was that?" He reached his hand to his hair, feeling something wet on his bangs. When he drew his hand away, his fingers were slightly blue, as were the spots on his chest.

"Hey Rita get in here!" Yuri called for her. "Is this stuff dangerous?"

Flynn stood there angrily glaring at Yuri as Rita ran into the room to see what happened

Rita looked at Flynn, and then up at the glass jar on the shelf, still slowly dripping some sort of blue liquid. "Oh, that's where I left that."

"Left what?" Estelle followed behind her and saw Flynn, the front of his hair dripping blue onto his chest and socks. "Rita! I told you to take that stuff out nine months ago!"

"I didn't remember it was there! It's not like I've been testing with it."

Flynn had never heard Estelle lose her temper before this entire situation, but she had been nothing but testy today. He didn't feel like witnessing another screaming match, so he asked, "Miss Mordio, what exactly did Yuri spill on my head?" This was the most important thing to figure out.

"It's harmless… probably. It'll wash off your skin with some scrubbing. Might take a bit longer to get out of your hair."

That was a relief, since he'd spent a few seconds terrified she was going to tell him it was toxic and he now had three days to live. At least he hadn't ruined another shirt, although the comment about his hair was troubling. "Alright. Then if you don't mind, I'm taking my leave." He feared for his safety at this point, and just wanted to leave and finish the day.

"Like that?" Yuri pointed out his lack of a shirt.

Flynn looked down at himself and frowned. He could leave in socks and with wet hair, but the commandant of the knights could not be seen walking the halls without a shirt on. Flynn looked to Estelle. "I hate to ask, but do you have anything I could throw on?" His hope wasn't too high, since Estelle and Rita had very small figures compared to his broad shoulders. He worried he was going to have to send Yuri all the way to his room and wait for him to come all the way back with a spare shirt, and after the events of today who knew what else could happen to him in the meantime.

"We have Estelle's maternity clothing, but…." Rita trailed off. He worried about the exact state of these shirts given Estelle's standard wardrobe, but it would better than nothing.

"I'll appreciate anything you have to spare."

Rita went to her and Estelle's room and quickly returned with a large, soft pink dress. "This, uh…" She trailed off, hesitant to give it to him. "This is probably the best one. We don't need it anymore now that Estelle doesn't have a watermelon in her gut."

"Rita!" Estelle said, a bit crossly.

Flynn sighed, but it was better than nothing. He took it and pulled it over his head, ignoring Yuri's constant laughter. He pulled the skirt up and bunched it up, carrying it under one arm, and then made his way to the door.

"Thanks for your help, Flynn," Rita said. "Let me know if you notice any side effects."

Flynn paused and looked back. "What exactly do you mean by 'side effects'?"

Rita shrugged. "It's probably nothing. Don't worry about it."

Flynn stared at her for a second, and then decided he didn't want to know. "Thank you. I'll be back another time," he said as he pulled the door shut behind him.

At this time, there were few people in the halls. But there were enough. Everyone he passed stopped to stare at Flynn in shock as he passed, but all of them were too frightened by his glare to comment. As soon as they met his murderous eyes, they quickly looked away and found themselves incredibly busy with something in the opposite direction.

With relief, he rounded into his office, just wanting to change into his own clothing again, maybe make an attempt on his hair. He froze when he saw Sodia at his desk. Sometimes she waited for him in his office when she needed to talk to him and didn't have anywhere else to go, and usually this didn't bother Flynn. Today was an exception.

She quickly pushed herself out of the chair and stood up straight. "Commandant, I… uh…" She stared at him, taking in his lack of shoes, his pink dress, and the blue dye stained on his bangs. He crossed his arms and glared, daring her to say anything.

Sodia swallowed, recomposing herself. "Are… are you alright, sir?"

Flynn walked past her, heading for his private chambers accessed from the back room of his office. "Report back to me later Sodia. I don't want to talk about it."


	6. Kidnapper!

**Chapter Six**:** Kidnapper!**

Yuri surveyed their tiny apartment. "Do you think we need to baby-proof the place or anything?"

"Oliver can't even crawl yet," Judith said, standing next to him. "What do you think he's going to get into?"

"You're right."

"Besides, Repede won't let anything bad happen to him, will you, Repede?" Judith looked down at the dog with a smile. Repede barked in agreement.

It had been three months since Oliver was born, and Estelle and Rita had not had a decent night's sleep since. Yuri and Judith were in town for the weekend for the first time since the crib fiasco, and had gone to visit Rita and Estelle earlier that day. The girls were exhausted, so Judith had taken pity on them and suggested that they could use a break. Oliver would be spending the night with Yuri and Judith, giving Rita and Estelle a much-needed night to themselves.

Yuri was pretty sure they had all the preparations. They'd brought home Oliver's bottle, baby food, spare diapers, and pyjamas earlier, and the innkeeper they lived above had even lent Yuri a crib usually given to guests with small children. All they had to do now was pick up Oliver.

"It's going to be boring with Oliver here tonight," Judith said with a bit of a pout.

"Why do you say that?" Yuri asked, looking over in surprise. He had been expecting a rather busy night, and hadn't been planning on getting much sleep, if Estelle and Rita were any indication.

"Because," Judith said, resting her hand on his shoulder, "we can't do _fun_ things with a child in the room."

"I see what this is about," Yuri said, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. "We had that big battle with a pack of wolves this morning and you have no outlet for all the built up excitement."

"Oh, you know me so well. Then we had lunch with Rita and Estelle, and then we were busy finding a crib to borrow and making sure we had everything ready for Oliver, and we can hardly have sex once you get back with him."

Yuri smiled, his grip around her waist tightening. "I know what you mean. After beating a tough opponent, you just got to celebrate!"

"And once we reached the castle, Estelle insisted on healing the claw mark on your arm."

"It would have left an awesome scar."

"Sexy." She pressed closer against him. Yuri could feel her heartbeat accelerating.

They stared into each other's eyes, their bodies held close against each other. Yuri glanced out the window. He needed to leave to pick up Oliver in a few minutes. But not for a few minutes.

"You know what? I think Oliver can wait for about five minutes. We have time."

Judith gave him a flirtatious smile. "Oh, goody."

Just under ten minutes later, Yuri retied his belt and left the apartment with a bit more spring in his step.

"Oh, Yuri," Judith called out the window when he walked by the street below. "Don't forget to pick up the milk on your way back."

"I got it," Yuri said, waving back at her without looking up.

When he reached the castle, he was stopped by the guards at the gates. It was tiresome having to show the paper from Estelle every time he visited. She'd given him a signed paper saying he had permanent permission from the princess to enter the castle and visit her whenever he wished. He was pretty sure the guards recognized him, but they always asked for the paper anyway. He guessed they were hoping for a day he'd forget it so they could deny him entry.

After knocking on the door at Estelle and Rita's place, Rita opened the door and said, "You're late."

Yuri glanced at the clock. "Only ten minutes."

"We have dinner plans," Rita said.

"Oh, Yuri, you're here!" Estelle said, running forward. She was looking much better than the last time Yuri had seen her about three months ago. Still tired, but slightly more to-grip with taking care of a baby. She lunged at him and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug. "Thank you so much for taking him."

"Uh… it's no problem," he said, gently prying her off him. This was a big change from earlier this afternoon, when she'd been hesitant about letting Oliver spend the night away from home. Clearly Rita had gotten through to her about how nice it would be to have a night to themselves.

"He's all ready to go," Rita said, carrying Oliver out of the nursery, wrapped in a baby sling. She seemed almost eager to hand him over. "Here."

Yuri took Oliver in one arm, using the other to wrap the sling around his shoulder. Hanging on his chest, Oliver looked up at Yuri with a smile. His eyes had darkened since the last time Yuri had seen him, losing the murky bluish tint and solidifying into a solid dark grey, much like Yuri's own eyes. "What, are you just giving him away now?"

"No!" Estelle said. "We just… we're really looking forward to going out tonight."

"It's been three months," Rita said. "Three months of taking care of him every second of the day. I love him, but I'm exhausted."

Yuri laughed a bit. "Don't worry, I understand. You girls have fun tonight."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Estelle ran back to the nursery.

While she was gone, Rita said, "He'll need to be fed in a couple hours. If he's crying, it's probably because he's hungry. If he's already eaten, he probably needs a diaper change. Put him to bed when he gets fussy. If anything goes wrong, Estelle and I will be at dinner at The Grand Sabre."

"I know," Yuri said. "You went over all of this with Judy and I this afternoon."

"I'm just double-checking," Rita said, crossing her arms. "Forgive me for being concerned about our son."

"You need this!" Estelle said, returning with a blanket in hand. She threw it over Yuri's shoulder and he saw that it was the old duck blanket he'd given Oliver. "He sleeps with the ducky blanket every night."

"You really don't have to call it that."

"If he gets upset, singing to him sometimes helps," Estelle said.

"Yeah… maybe Judy can take care of that." Yuri looked down at Oliver, who was snuggled against his chest. "That's not going to be a problem, though, is it? You're going to be good for us, aren't you?"

Oliver looked up and cooed softly, which Yuri took as a yes. "See? We're good."

"Alright," Rita said. "We're all good? Then let's go to dinner."

"Bye-bye, Oliver," Estelle said, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. "Be good for Yuri and Judith, ok? Thank you so much, Yuri."

"It's no problem."

Before there could be any delays, Estelle and Rita rushed out, leaving Yuri with the baby. Yuri couldn't blame them – he couldn't imagine going three months without any freedom. He looked down at Oliver, supporting his weight with one arm. "Looks like it's just you and me now, kiddo."

He pulled the duck blanket off his shoulder and folded it up as small as he could and then stuffed it under his arm. He'd do anything to help his friends, but he wasn't going to go marching through the capital draped in a blanket covered in ducks if he didn't have to. He was already contemplating leaving the sling behind and just carrying Oliver in his arms, but he had a feeling halfway home he'd regret the idea – Oliver was getting rather heavy to be carrying for too long.

He walked down the hall, Oliver going to sleep against his chest. Sleepovers would probably be more fun once he was old enough to actually do anything. Yuri anticipated a night full of diaper changing and crying, which wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. Still, Estelle and Rita had to put up with this every night, so they deserved a break.

Everything was going well until he reached the first floor of the castle and was about to leave. He paused to open a door, when a guard turned around the corner and said, "Can I help you?"

Yuri sighed a bit in frustration. Sometimes he wondered if he should go to the trouble of purchasing one fancy expensive outfit to wear to the castle so he wouldn't get stopped all the time for looking so obviously out of place. He always pushed that thought a way, because he'd have no excuse to make fun of Flynn if he had a swanky outfit of his own. "I'm just on my way out," he said simply.

The guard eyed him suspiciously, and then his eyes drifted to the baby in the pouch at Yuri's chest. "Is that…?" The guards eyes widened as he noticed the distinctive patch of bright pink hair. The guard whipped out his sword.

"Whoa," Yuri said, stepping back a bit and wrapping one arm protectively around Oliver. "Easy there."

"What are you doing with Prince Oliver?" the guard asked.

"I'm just taking him home," Yuri said. "Relax."

"The knights were not informed about this."

"Well, no," Yuri said. "It was kind of arranged on short notice and Flynn was busy all day so we didn't have a chance to let him know."

"I cannot allow you to leave the castle with the prince," the guard said. "Hand him over."

Yuri was beginning to regret leaving his sword at home. It hadn't even occurred to him that he would need it for such a basic task of picking up a baby. "No can do. I'm not giving him to some random guard."

"If you do not give me the child I will be forced to retrieve him by force."

Yuri's hopes of getting out of the castle without any trouble quickly faded away. He couldn't just hand Oliver over to some knight he'd never met before. He had no idea if this guy wasn't an imposter trying to kidnap the prince himself. Rita and Estelle had entrusted Oliver to him, and he wasn't giving him away to any random knight.

"Alright…" Yuri said, reaching for Oliver as if he was about to pull him out of the sling. The knight dropped his guard a bit, and then Yuri punched him in the face. The knight shouted and clutched his nose as he stumbled backward, and then Yuri threw open the door and started running.

"Stop!" the knight yelled. "Stop him! Kidnapper!"

_Why does stuff like this always happen to me?_ Yuri thought as he dashed along the path to the front gates. He might be able to make it before the guards at the gates got alerted, but he was running slower than usual with Oliver on his chest. One arm was occupied holding him tightly so the baby didn't go flying as he sprinted along.

"Stop him!"

Yuri heard shouts behind him just as he reached the gates, but didn't waste time looking back. The guards looked back in surprise, just as Yuri dashed through. On the streets of the Noble Quarter, he took a different turn than usual. He wasn't sure if he could make it all the way back to the Lower Quarter without getting caught, so he was aiming for the restaurant Estelle and Rita were heading to. If he caught up with them, Estelle could call the knights off and explain the situation.

Oliver did not like running at full speed down the street, and made his displeasure known through crying. "Dammit," Yuri hissed as he darted down a side street, hoping to get a short cut to the road Estelle and Rita were on. He'd been hoping to lose the knights pounding down the street after him by leaving the main road, but with Oliver crying, stealth was not an option.

He rounded the corner, and swore when he realized he'd hit a dead end. He glanced over his shoulder, hearing the clanking of knights running to catch up to him. Up ahead was a brick wall, just taller than he was. He could probably jump it using the walls to push off of under normal circumstances… but he couldn't with a baby. Damn.

Yuri turned to face the knights. There was a handful of them now, filling the other end of the alley with their swords drawn. Some of them at least recognized him.

"Nowhere to run now, Yuri Lowell!"

"You could always just let me go, since I'm not actually doing anything wrong."

"I knew you were bad news from the start," the knight in the lead said. "Now you've gone and proved me right by kidnapping Lady Estellise's baby!"

"Or you could go spend your time doing your job and arresting _actual_ criminals and not babysitters."

"Arrest him!" the knight commanded.

Yuri sighed and looked down at the still-crying baby. "Sorry, kiddo," he said softly. "Looks like you're going to have to go with the incompetent knights for now."

* * *

"Shhh, Estelle," Rita said across the dinner table. "Do you hear that?"

Estelle looked around the restaurant. She heard plenty of clinks from crystal goblets, the low murmur of conversation, and the splash of a fountain on the other side of the dining room, but nothing leapt out at her. "Hear what?"

Rita smiled. "_Nothing_. That beautiful sound of the absence of crying."

Estelle smiled a bit. For the first time in months she felt like she could relax. Even when Oliver wasn't crying, she was always on edge, listening for any sign that something was wrong. There were always servants offering to do all the work, of course, but Estelle wanted to do this herself. After growing up raised by servants, she wanted her own son to be raised by his mothers first and foremost.

"Do you think this is ok?" she asked. "Are we bad parents for unloading him on Yuri and Judith for the night?"

Rita rolled her eyes. "Estelle, we've been over this. Everyone needs a break now and then. It's not like we handed him off to some hobo on the street. It's Yuri!"

"I guess you're right," she said as the waiter came by with their soup. "It is nice to get dressed up again, isn't it?" She'd taken to wearing only her oldest and dingiest dresses lately, since Oliver frequently spat up on her shoulders when she was burping him. She also tried to wear the dresses that we the easiest to take off for when she needed to feed him.

"Yeah… sure…" Rita squirmed uncomfortably in her dress. There had been a bit of an argument about it, since Rita treated dressing up like putting formal wear on her body risked releasing the Adephagos, but she'd caved when Estelle pointed out the restaurant had a strict dress code and she wouldn't be allowed in without a proper dress.

"Oh, Rita," Estelle said, "did I tell you about the really cute thing Oliver did today with-"

"Yes, you did," Rita said. She held up her hand and said, "We agreed that we weren't going to talk about Oliver all night. We're not going to turn into those parents who can only talk about their kid. Let's be adults tonight and talk about adult things."

"Ok," Estelle said. She searched her mind for a topic that didn't involve Oliver. When not sprung to mind, she said, "Um… like what?"

"Uh…" Rita stared at her, frowned, and then said, "Eat your soup."

Estelle smiled at the way Rita grumpily started focusing in her soup. She understood what Rita meant, though. It would be nice to have a conversation about grown-up things for once. When Rita got home after working in her lab all day, they usually just talked about Oliver, mostly because Estelle spent all day home with him and didn't have anything else to talk about. Even today at lunch with Yuri and Judith, she could tell she'd been boring them by doing nothing but talking about Oliver the whole time.

"Have any of the researchers made any progress on finding a replacement energy source other than gas?" Estelle asked.

Rita looked up from her soup. "Not really. There's been some experimentation with steam, but I don't think it would work on a smaller scale for household use."

Estelle had mostly asked because she'd been paranoid about putting oil lamps in Oliver's room ever since the crib debacle, but she didn't think it counted as an Oliver topic. Luckily, once she got Rita on the subject of her research, it was hard to get her to stop and they no longer needed to worry about finding a conversation topic. Rita ranted about her discoveries, irritating colleagues, and even some explosions that she described as humorous but which seemed pretty terrifying to Estelle. Estelle didn't really understand most of it and only contributed every now and then, but seeing Rita so happy and passionate about her work made Estelle smile.

Discussing work, which had eventually evolved to a more Estelle-friendly variant about Imperial policy toward research, lasted them through the first couple courses of their meal.

"But of course researches need to have _some_ guidelines from the crown," Estelle said. "They get grant money from the government; the Council needs to know what their money is going toward and they don't want tax payer money going to waste."

"Yeah," Rita said, "but there should be more actual scientists advising the Council. They don't understand what we do, and they think they can understand what resources we need? Please."

Estelle was about to say that since she frequently advised Emperor Ioder and the Council on official matters, she could easily carry Rita's recommendations and complaints to them, but the head waiter interrupted them first.

"Excuse me, Lady Estellise," the waiter said, bowing slightly. "I'm sorry to intrude but there is a woman at the door wishing to speak to you."

"A woman?" Estelle said. "Who?"

"She gave the name Judith."

Panic spiked through Estelle's heart as she and Rita shared a quick, nervous glance. They'd told Yuri and Judith to find them at the restaurant if something went wrong, so if Judith was here, something must have gone wrong. A thousand possibilities of things that could have happened to Oliver crossed her mind, all of them more terrifying than the last.

"Let her over here," Rita said. She looked to Estelle and said, "We should hear what she has to say before we go running off in a panic. It might not be a big deal."

Estelle nodded faintly. They needed to be calm and rational. Maybe Judith had simply discovered that she and Yuri didn't actually know how to change a diaper. Maybe they'd forgotten something at the apartment and needed to borrow the keys. "Yes," she said. "Bring her over here and we'll talk to her."

A minute later the waiter returned, while diners throughout the room stopped to stare. The Grand Sabre had a dress code, and Judith certainly didn't meet it. If the princess hadn't asked for her, she would have certainly been kicked out.

The waiter walked away and left Judith standing by the table. Rita said, "Is something wrong, Judith?"

"I think it might be," she said. "Yuri left to pick up Oliver over three hours ago, and he's not home yet. Normally I wouldn't worry, but since he was with the baby I thought I should let you know."

"He's missing?" Estelle asked, her heart fluttering in horror. "No… where could he have gone?"

"He left the castle right after us," Rita said, knitting her eyebrows together. "We left through the side because it was closer to the restaurant, and he went back out the front. What kind of trouble could he have gotten himself into?"

Horrible mental images of Yuri and Oliver lying dead in a gutter filled Estelle's brain. _That's ridiculous_, she told herself. Yuri was a strong fighter, and after everything he'd accomplished on their journey, he wouldn't succumb to some random street thug. But, that thought just worried her more, because it meant that if something _had_ been a problem for Yuri, it had to be pretty serious. She didn't know where her loved ones were or if they were even still alive, and the fear made her like she was at the top of Zaude all over again, desperately looking for any sign that Yuri was alright.

"We need to go." Estelle stood up, her chair scraping loudly.

"Right," Rita said. "We'll go back to the castle and see if anyone remembers seeing him leave. It'll give us a start." They hurried through the dining room. As they exited, Rita called to the waiter, "Send our bill to the castle!"

Outside, they ran to the castle as fast as they could. Estelle could barely breathe when they reached the front gate, more from terror than exertion. Her son was missing. Oh no, oh no, she knew letting Oliver leave her side was a bad idea!

"Hey, you!" Rita said to the knights at the gate. "Did you see Yuri Lowell leave here with Oliver earlier?"

"Oh, yes!" the knight said. To Estelle he said, "Don't worry, Lady Estellise, the criminal has been caught and Prince Oliver safely returned. You have no need to fear!"

"What criminal?" she said, letting herself calm down slightly upon hearing that Oliver was safe. The fact that he needed to be safely returned worried her, though. Where had he been returned _from_? "What happened?"

The knight said, "The criminal Yuri Lowell attempted to kidnap Prince Oliver, but he was chased down and apprehended by the knights."

"_What_?" Rita said. "What are you talking about? Yuri couldn't have kidnapped Oliver – we _gave_ him to Yuri!"

"I don't understand," the knight said.

"Yuri was taking Oliver back to his house to babysit him for the night," Rita said. "You stupid ass!"

Realization dawned on the knight. "Oh dear! I'm sorry, we must have made a serious misjudgement."

"Where are Yuri and Oliver now?" Judith asked.

"Yuri Lowell is in prison," the knight said. "The knights took Oliver with them – I assume they took him to their lieutenant, Donovan."

Estelle was relieved to hear that Yuri and Oliver weren't in danger, but her fear had turned into anger. The thought of Oliver being taken away by some random knights infuriated her. Oliver must have been so scared, and Yuri didn't deserve to be in prison!

"We need to go get Oliver," she said. "I need to know exactly where he is." She wouldn't be able to focus on anything else until she had Oliver safely in her arms again.

"Right," Rita said. "We're going to the knights barracks." She stormed off in the direction of the barracks, with Estelle hot on her heels.

"I'm all for finding Oliver," Judith said, following with a bit less fervor, "but shouldn't we get Yuri out of jail first?"

"He's not going anywhere," Rita said. "And it's not like he's never been in jail before. He can wait a few minute while we pick up our son."

"You two go get Oliver," Judith said. "I'll meet you at the prison and keep Yuri company, alright?"

"Ok, Judith," Estelle said. "That's a good idea. We'll be there soon to get Yuri released."

She waved, and then took off in the other direction. When she was gone, Rita said, "Don't worry, Estelle. These knights were only trying to help; Oliver is fine."

"I know," Estelle said. "Of course Oliver is a safe with them, but I'm worried that he's scared. I was already worried that he would be scared away from us from for the night but then to get chased and taken by complete strangers? I just want to let him know it's ok."

"If it helps," Rita said, "he's probably screaming his head off and annoying all the knights."

Estelle frowned, imagining her son so afraid that he was screaming and crying. "No, Rita, that doesn't help."

They crossed to the knights' barracks as quickly as they could. Estelle was too anxious to have any more conversation, so they walked in silence. When they finally reached Lieutenant Donovan's office, Rita barged in without even knocking.

"Where is he?" Rita demanded.

Donovan jumped up from his desk. "O-Oh, Lady Estellise!"

"Where is Oliver?" Estelle asked when it became instantly clear that he wasn't in the room."

"Oh, yes, well he seemed to be upset so I gave him to Sergeant Ophelia. She has her own children so I figured she'd be able to calm him down."

"Where is she?" Estelle asked.

"She should be in her room. It's room number 115, just down the hall."

Rita didn't bother thanking him before storming out the room. Estelle paused just long enough to glare and let him know she was angry, but she didn't want to waste time explaining just how much he and his knights had screwed up.

She and Rita stormed down the hall. They found Sergeant Ophelia easily enough, but she didn't have Oliver. She said she'd given him to Captain Francis once he'd calmed down some, so Rita and Estelle made the long trip all the way around the castle to Francis' room. Estelle was losing her patience, and her mood was not improved when they couldn't find Francis in his room. Five minutes later, they found his aid in his office, who explained he'd had a sudden meeting and had handed Oliver off to another knight.

"This is ridiculous!" Rita shouted once they were out in the hallway.

Estelle leaned back against the wall, taking a deep breath. All these people kept passing Oliver around like he was just some _thing_, but he was their son and she didn't know where he was and he was probably scared and wanted his mommy.

"We'll find him," Rita said, taking her hand and squeezing it. Francis' aid was still in the room just through the door and might exit to the hall at any moment, so they couldn't risk any more open shows of affection. Estelle still appreciated the gesture.

"Sometimes I get so frustrated with the knights," Estelle said. "They try so hard to do their jobs that they don't stop and _think_." She remembered how frustrating it had been in the early days of their journey when knights kept trying to take her back to the castle. They were just following orders, but when the situation didn't match their orders – such as the missing princess not actually wanting to be 'rescued' – they didn't think for themselves and analyze situations on a personal level.

"Yeah, but that's what Flynn is trying to fix, right?" Rita said. "Hey, speaking of Flynn, do you think he could help us?"

"I doubt it," Estelle said. "He may command the knights, but he can't magically know who has Oliver."

Rita sighed. "You're right. Well, come on, we'd better go find this Captain Greyson. Hopefully he hasn't given Oliver away yet."

Estelle nodded, squeezed Rita's hand, and then took off down the hall.

* * *

Yuri didn't raise his head when he heard footsteps approach. He was already… well, comfortable wasn't the word for it, but getting up would be even more uncomfortable. He supposed it was nice to be back in the old castle prison cells again. It was nostalgic. Even the questionable stain on the ground was still there.

"My goodness," said a voice that definitely didn't belong to one of the guards. "I send you off to complete a simple task and you end up napping. That's just like you, Yuri."

Yuri bolted upright from the wooden bench he'd been lounging on. This made his sore muscles protest, but he didn't have time to worry about that right now. "Judy?" He grinned when he saw her standing behind the bars. "Man, am I ever glad to see you."

"Estelle and Rita are going to fetch Oliver," she said. "They'll be back to get you out once they have him."

"Good," Yuri said, getting up and walking over to her. He was hardly a stranger to getting thrown in jail, but it wasn't exactly a fun experience. The worst part was that for once, he really hadn't done anything wrong. He leaned forward against the bars, resting his forehead in the gap between them. "Sorry I was late getting home."

"You really are quite unreliable," Judith said. "I bet you didn't even pick up the milk."

Yuri's smile dropped. "I was _going_ to," he said. "I got a little distracted."

"I don't know why I put up with you," Judith said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"We can pick up the milk on the way home tonight, assuming Rita and Estelle get around to bailing me out," he said with a bit of irritation. After running around Zaphias with a crying baby, getting arrested by overly-enthusiastic knights intent on punishing the fiendish kidnapper, and then spending a couple hours lying in jail and worrying about who had taken Oliver and what Judith would think when he didn't make it home, he was really not in the mood to bicker about milk.

"Hey," Judith said, dropping her accusatory tone and reaching through the bars to rest her hand on the side of his face. "I really was worried about you, you know. You have a nasty habit of getting yourself into trouble."

Yuri winced as her fingers brushed the swollen skin around his eye, and he chided himself for showing that weakness when Judith pulled her hand away with a guilty expression. He hated showing others when he was in pain; he didn't like people worrying over him. Of course, after all these years, Judith could pick out the slight change in his expression and tiny shift of weight indicating he had a paper cut.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, really," Yuri said. "The knights roughed me up a little, but it's nothing I can't handle. At the very least, it's a good sign that the knights are so dedicated to protecting Oliver."

"Here," Judith said, leaning forward and kissing his eye through the bars. "Better?"

"Certainly not worse."

Judith sat down on the ground and settled against the wall. "I explained the situation to the jailer when I got here. He said couldn't let you go until Estelle gets here, but that I could wait down here with you as long as I wanted."

Yuri sat down as well. The cold floor really wasn't any worse than the wooden bench. He leaned back against the wall and said, "This really wasn't how I planned on spending tonight."

"Just think, won't this be a funny story to tell Oliver when he's older?"

"Ha, yeah, maybe it's worth it for that." Yuri propped his hands behind his head, trying to get comfortable. It was a fruitless effort, since the jail cell was cold, hard, and he was pretty sore all over. He supposed he couldn't blame the knights too harshly for throwing in a few superfluous punches after he'd already surrendered, since he'd spent the past eight years antagonizing them to the point where most of the knights were probably desperate for an excuse to arrest him.

When Estelle and Rita weren't back after an hour, Yuri began to grow concerned. It shouldn't have taken them that long to pick up Oliver. Was something wrong? They couldn't possibly have forgotten about him. Well, Rita might have, but he was pretty sure Estelle wouldn't.

"You should go home," Yuri said. "It's looking like I might be here for a while."

"Do you not want me here?" Judith asked.

"It's not that," Yuri said. "But you can't be comfortable and it's stupid for both of us to spend the night in jail."

Judith reached through the bars and put her hand on his. "It's stupid for both of us to be alone when we can just as easily stay together." She rubbed her thumb on his hand and said, "You don't have to handle everything yourself, Yuri. Being in a relationship means we're in things together."

Yuri looked away. "It's not that," he said, trying to sound casual. "I was just worried about Repede. You put food down for him before you left, right?"

Judith smiled a bit, easily seeing through his façade but playing along anyway. "Of course I did. I should have known you were just worried about Repede."

Yuri smiled and turned his hand so he could squeeze hers back. "I really do appreciate you staying here, Judy. Although, it's not like I've never spent the night in jail before."

"That's true. I think kidnapping is the most serious thing you've been in here for, isn't it?"

"Technically I 'kidnapped' Estelle, but those charges got dropped before I saw a day of jail time."

"Hm…" Judith looked thoughtfully into the distance, "if we're going to be here all night, maybe I should go punch the jailer in the face and get him to throw me in here with you. That way I'd have a bed."

"I wouldn't bother," Yuri said. "The beds in here aren't any softer than the floor."

Judith looked up at the sound of footsteps. A few seconds later, the jailer appeared with keys in hand. Judith stood up and asked, "Has Estelle cleared everything up?"

"Yep," he said, unlocking the door to Yuri's cell. "Sorry for the mix-up."

Yuri just glared at him on the way out.

"See?" Judith said as they walked toward the exit. "Waiting with you wasn't so hard."

They left the prison and headed up the steps to the castle proper. They came out in a small, high-ceilinged room with another staircase leading up to further levels. Sitting on the steps were Estelle and Rita, sitting close. Rita had her arm wrapped around Estelle's shoulders.

"Where's Oliver?" Yuri asked as soon as he noticed they didn't have a baby with them.

Estelle looked up at him with tired eyes while Rita scowled. "We don't know."

"Don't know?" Yuri said. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"The knights kept passing him around," Rita said. "Then they heard we were looking for him, and so they kept giving him to someone to find us and then we'd just miss him. It was getting pretty frustrating, so we decided to come back here and wait for someone to bring him to us."

"It'll be alright," Judith said with a gentle smile. "The knights will take good care of him. I'm sure someone is bringing him here as we speak."

Estelle wiped tears from her eyes. "Thank you, Judith. I know he's not in any danger, but I don't think I can relax until I have him back." She turned her attention on Yuri. "Oh, Yuri, you're hurt!"

"It's nothing," Yuri said, knowing it would do no good.

Estelle had already leapt to her feet and started powering up her magic. There was a flash of light, and then all his bruises faded away. "Is that better?"

"Yeah. Thanks a lot, Estelle."

"Oh, no, it was the knights who hurt you, wasn't it? This is all my fault. If we hadn't planned this in such a rush and I told people what we were planning they wouldn't have thought you were kidnapping him."

"It's _fine_, Estelle," Yuri said. "No harm done."

"Yeah, Estelle," Rita said. "Yuri is fine. It's not like he's never been in jail before."

Yuri gave her an annoyed glance. "Well it's not like I make a habit of it or anything."

Heavy metallic footsteps clanked down the marble steps toward them. "Is that so, Yuri?" Flynn said. "Because I'm getting pretty tired of finding out you're behind bars again."

No one even paid attention to Flynn, because they were far more concerned with the ducky-wrapped bundle in his arms. "Oliver!" Estelle yelled, practically throwing herself at Flynn. "Oh, Flynn, you found him!"

He reached the base of the stairs and handed the baby over. "One of the captains showed up in my office with him. He said they'd rescued him from an attempted kidnapping but no one knew what to do with him because they couldn't track you down. When he said the would-be kidnapper in question was Yuri Lowell, I figured I should come down here and see what's going on."

"It was all a big misunderstanding, Flynn," Yuri said.

"I figured as much. Although, I'm told you ran and attempted to evade the knights. Are you _trying_ to make yourself look like a criminal?"

"They already thought I looked like a criminal," Yuri said, putting a hand on his hip. "I was trying to reach Rita and Estelle so they could clear things up specifically to avoid this situation of Oliver getting passed around between knights."

"Alright," Flynn said. "I think we've got everything cleared up. I'll make sure the kidnapping charges against you are dropped. In the future, Lady Estellise, I recommend you inform the knights when someone else is taking care of Oliver to prevent this from happening again."

"Yes, I will," Estelle said, swaying back and forth a bit. Oliver was asleep for now, but she kept rocking to make sure he stayed that way. She finally got a good look at Flynn and said, "Oh, no, Flynn, your shirt…"

Flynn looked down at his shirt, which was once again covered in baby spit up. He sighed. "Yes. It seems Oliver was happy to see me."

Rita snickered. "How many of your shirts has he done that on now?"

Flynn did not seem to find this nearly as amusing as Rita did. "Counting this one, I believe it's around ten."

"Maybe you should stop trying to hold him," Yuri said. "He doesn't seem to like you very much."

"Yuri, don't say that," Estelle said. "I'm sure he likes Flynn just fine."

"Maybe your hair scared him," Yuri said. "Hasn't that washed out yet?"

Flynn immediately put a hand up to his bangs, which Yuri was highly amused to see were still blue. "No, it hasn't," he said huffily. "It doesn't appear to wash out."

"Nah, that stuff is pretty tough," Rita said, still paying more attention to Oliver. "You'll probably have to wait for your hair to grow out."

Flynn gave her an annoyed look. "Great."

"We should probably head home," Judith said. "Rita, Estelle, do you still want us to take Oliver for the night?"

Rita and Estelle exchanged glances, and then Rita said, "No, thanks. Sorry, but after tonight's drama I think we should wait a little while on that. We're just going back to our room."

"Alright," Yuri said. "Have a good sleep."

They all parted ways, with Rita, Estelle, and Oliver heading back to their suite, Flynn returning to his office for some late-night paper work, and Yuri and Judith leaving for the walk back to the Lower Quarter. Once they were alone, Judith leaned against Yuri and said, "Looks like our night isn't as compromised as we thought it would be."

"You're right," he said. "So… do you want to find out if 'just got out of jail' sex is as good as 'we just killed a pack of wolves' sex?"

Judith squeezed his hand. "Oh, that sounds like fun."


	7. Adventures in Babysitting

**Chapter Seven: Adventures in Babysitting **

"Mama. Ma-ma. Maaaa maaaa. Say mama?" Estelle had decided that it was time Oliver should learn how to speak, and she had been doing nothing but familiarize him with words for the past several weeks. It was highly distracting when Rita was trying to read, hearing nothing but the same syllables repeated in various inflections. At this point of his brain's development, if he heard it too many different ways, surely he would think they were different words. But Estelle had insisted that if he was taught them all, he should pick up on at least one.

Estelle's speech lessons were met with a blank stare and meaningless babble, as always. She sighed in exasperation, picking him up to sit on the couch next to Rita.

"No progress?" she asked, just bringing up something to talk about. Teaching him how to talk was a big deal for Estelle, and she didn't bring up that having to listen in on it daily got annoying fast.

"He's still too young." Estelle held him close as he chewed on her finger. His teeth had been growing in, and he was more interested in using his mouth to put things in than forming words with it.

"He'll learn eventually, it doesn't mean anything to him at this point." It wasn't anything more than blindly repeating what he was hearing.

"But he has to learn now so that he won't struggle when he's older." She must have been reading more of those baby books while she was out. They always had little tips on how to reach milestones faster, and Estelle bought into almost anything written on paper with a fancy cover.

"It's your time being taken." Surely he would learn how to talk just from being around people who spoke, but it couldn't hurt him. And spending that much time with him made Estelle happy, when there was no crying involved.

"Can you take him for a minute?" Estelle passed him over to Rita before she even finished the question, standing up to leave. She took him under his arms and pulled him to her lap without protest. She began to ask where she was going when she was interrupted.

"Mama." The word was broken, but unmistakable.

Estelle turned back around quickly, eyes wide and grinning widely. "Did you hear that too?"

It didn't sound like a big deal until she had heard him speak, and Rita couldn't help but smile. "First word." She felt oddly proud towards him, despite only hearing a repeated nonsense syllable.

Estelle clasped her hands and bounced, nearly squealing in excitement. "What do we do? Are we supposed to write it down? What's the date?"

"His book is on the desk in the nursery." While Estelle usually overreacted about how to deal with him, she agreed that tracking his growth progress was necessary. It was effortless, and almost like recording a living experiment.

"Who do you think he was talking to?" Estelle asked as she returned with the book. "I mean…we're both Mama."

"Mama" wasn't exactly a nickname Rita would pick for herself, but it's what Estelle read that babies typically learned. "Does it matter?"

"Of course," she insisted. "We have to make sure he knows that we're both his parents."

"Estelle, we both live with him and take care of him. When he's old enough to understand parents, he'll know that." As always, she was putting too much weight on a small occurrence. Oliver had begun to gnaw on her finger; she rubbed one of his sprouting teeth absently.

"Yes but…." She thought for a moment. "But what if he doesn't recognize one of us as his mom yet? The book says he starts saying mama and dada at this age."

"They're written for more conventional families, don't worry about it." She passed him back to her. "I have to leave soon, take him?"

Estelle took him, but paused. "Where are you going?"

"The mages from the Spirit Unit guild are in town, they might have some development on the power issue." Dahngrest was too far away for her to turn them away or delay their meeting.

"Oh." She froze. "I have to leave too, there was a meeting with Ioder and the Council announced yesterday."

It didn't take much thought to realize the problem. Neither of them could cancel their plans or take Oliver, and he had nowhere to go. Estelle had a potential plan first. "Are Yuri and Judith back in town yet?"

Rita shook her head, thinking of who was available.

"We can hardly leave him with a random servant." Estelle had decided months ago that she would only leave Oliver to castle staff in an absolute emergency. She had no wish to repeat the frantic runaround with the knights of five months ago.

"Is anyone else even available?" Rita wasn't coming up with any names. The rare time they required a sitter, Yuri was available to cover for them.

Estelle put her hand over her chin as she thought. "Well, I don't know if he's available, but I can think of someone.

* * *

"Please Flynn?" Estelle said, clasping her hands over her chest. "There's no one else to watch him."

Flynn stared at the girls from his desk, his pen frozen in his hand. "Isn't there anyone else you can ask, Lady Estellise? I'm really quite busy today."

"You don't need to do anything," Rita said. "He'll just sit here and play with his toys. You just need to make sure he doesn't crawl away or get anything."

"I don't want to leave him with a stranger," Estelle said. "He gets upset now when he's with someone he doesn't know, but he likes you."

For a certain definition of 'like', Flynn supposed. A while ago, Estelle had complained to him about how hard it was to get Repede to like her, and since Oliver had taken to throwing up on him every time he tried to hold the kid, Flynn was beginning to understand how she felt.

"Can't Yuri take him?" Flynn suggested. Yuri and Judith had watched Oliver a few times, though since the disastrous first attempt at babysitting, they'd decided they would just stay at Rita and Estelle's place while the girls went out.

"Yuri is still in Dahngrest," Rita said. "He won't be in Zaphias again for a couple weeks."

"There's no one else, Flynn," Estelle said, giving him puppy dog eyes. "I know you're busy, but we don't know where else to take him. I'll make it up to you, I swear."

Flynn sighed. They were so desperate; he couldn't say no to them. "Very well."

Estelle's face lit up. "Yay! Oh, Flynn, thank you so much." She pulled a blanket out of the basket under her arm and spread it out on the floor. "We'll set him down right here in front of your desk, ok?"

Rita gently set Oliver down on the blanket. He was sitting up now, and looked up at them in confusion. This wasn't his usual play area. Estelle pulled out a variety of toys and laid them out on the blanket around him.

"He'll probably get hungry around five," Rita said. "Can you give him some food if we're not back by then? Just mash up some bananas or something."

"I think I can manage that."

"We're going now, ok?" Rita said, crouching in front of Oliver. "You be good for Flynn."

"Oh, Flynn, I meant to tell you!" Estelle said. "Oliver said his first word today!"

"Did he? That's impressive." He looked down at Oliver, who was still babbling incoherently.

"Yes!" Estelle said. "He said 'mama'. Isn't that great? We're, uh, not sure which of us he was saying it to."

"I'm not sure if he knows what he was saying," Rita said, standing up after ruffling Oliver's hair. "He was probably just repeating sounds."

Estelle pouted. "I think he did. He must know who mama is."

"I guess it's possible," Rita said. "Well, we'll be back. Thanks again, Flynn." She and Estelle headed for the door.

Estelle paused at the door and said, "I'll come pick him up as soon as my meeting with the Council is over. It shouldn't be more than a couple hours."

When they were gone, Oliver looked to Flynn with confusion. Flynn stared back, not sure what to do. The girls were gone and now neither of them quite knew what to do with each other. Oliver turned his head, looking at the door as if he expected his moms to suddenly appear again.

Flynn looked down at the paper on his desk, and the stack of similar papers a few inches high still in his inbox. He needed to fill out all these papers on the monthly expense report of the knights and submit them to the Council before midnight. He tended to always put this off until the very last day of the month, because he always got caught up with the actual commandant-ing of organizing troops and directing military matters. Going over the budget always seemed like a secondary task when there were monsters to fight.

Flynn was just about to start writing again when Oliver made a small whining noise. Flynn looked up from his paper to make sure he was alright, but he was just sitting there with a face that looked painfully like he was about to cry. Flynn withheld a groan of frustration. He could work with a baby in the room, but a screaming baby might make things more difficult.

Before the situation could get out of hand, Flynn put his pen down and walked over to Oliver. He got down on his knees and said, "It's alright. Your moms will be back soon, alright?"

Oliver stared at him with his face scrunched up in a pout. His whimpers became more pronounced, threatening to turn into full-blow cries.

"Uh…" Flynn looked around the blanket and grabbed a rattle. He shook it front of Oliver's face, hoping to distract him. Oliver didn't seem to be interested. "Don't you want to play?"

If babies were capable of furious glaring, Flynn was sure that's what Oliver would be doing. He almost reminded Flynn of Yuri the way he stared, his eyes clearly saying, 'no, stupid, I want my mommy back, not your dumb rattle.'

"Come on, Oliver, please play quietly so I can work."

Oliver ignored the rattle, but he did see something else he liked. He leaned forward a bit, reached out his stubby hands, and grasped the end of Flynn's cape. He pulled it toward his mouth, and Flynn quickly grabbed it before he could try and eat it.

"No, Oliver," Flynn said sternly, tugging it back. To his surprise, Oliver resisted, pulling back as hard as he could. Flynn would be pretty ashamed of himself if he couldn't overpower a baby, so it wasn't any trouble to put slightly more force into his tug and pull the cape out of Oliver's hands. "This isn't yours. Play with your rattle."

As soon as the cape was out of his hands, Oliver opened his mouth wide and cried, his sudden wails taking Flynn by surprise. He jumped a bit, and instinctively handed the cape back. As soon as it was in Oliver's hands, he stopped crying and let out a happy gurgle.

"Oh, no," Flynn said as Oliver scrunched the end of his cape up in his hands. "You have plenty of toys. You don't get my cape too." He gently held Oliver's hands in one of his and pulled the cape back into his possession.

When the cape was out of Oliver's hands, the baby started crying. He reached for the cape with little grabby hands, his loud cries filling the office.

"No!" Flynn said. He grabbed the rattle and shook it in front of Oliver's face, trying to distract him. "Look, here, this is fun! This is for you."

Oliver was not having any of his crap. He had his heart set on Flynn's cape, and no second-rate baby toy was going to satisfy him. Flynn wondered if he had Yuri's nature or Rita's nurturing to blame for his stubborn streak. Flynn glanced at his desk and the stack of papers still waiting for him. He weighed how much he needed his cape against how impossible it would be to get his job done in time with a screaming baby in the room, and sighed.

"I have more capes." He reached behind his back and undid the fasten, slipping the cape around his shoulders. "Fine. Take it." At least he hadn't ruined another shirt.

Oliver squeed in pleasure as he took the cape in hand, and Flynn tried to suppress a wince as he stuck it in his mouth. With Oliver pacified, Flynn returned to his desk. He wasn't able to work as quickly as he usually did, because he kept glancing up to make sure Oliver hadn't managed to choke on something, but progress was being made.

After about ten minutes, Oliver grew bored of Flynn's cape. Flynn hoped he'd enjoyed it, because he wasn't sure if he wanted it back, since the ends were covered in drool. He looked up at Flynn expectantly.

"Well, what do you think?" Flynn asked, resting his head in his left hand as he looked up from his paper. "Should I say that this fifteen thousand gald went toward the defense budget or the offense budget? Sending those reinforcements to the town was to defend the border from encroaching monsters, but they defended the town by mounting an offense against the infestation in the caves nearby."

Oliver stared at him, and then grabbed his rattle and bashed it against some wooden blocks, laughing at the loud sound it made.

"What's that?" Flynn said. "Offense, then? Alright, that sounds right enough." He turned back to his paper and filled in the required blanks. "Thank you for your input, Oliver."

Oliver made a happy giggle at the sound of his name, and returned to bashing blocks with his rattle. Flynn could work through the noise, but he was beginning to miss the days when all Oliver did was lie there and sleep. Still, the rattling and banging was tolerable. Flynn got through several pages of paperwork while Oliver entertained himself with his own percussions section.

After almost fifteen minutes of this, Flynn was engrossed in his work. He was on a roll now, going through form after form. He reduced his stack of paper by almost a quarter of an inch, and was feeling quite pleased with himself. There was something very satisfying about getting paperwork done.

He signed his name at the bottom of another form and put it in the finished stack, and then it suddenly occurred to him that the rattling and knocking had stopped. He slowly rose his head as his heart sank. Oliver was not on the blanket.

"…Oliver?" Rita was going to murder him.

He stood up in a panic. His abandoned pen rolled off the desk as he walked around to the middle of the room. In seconds he did a mental checklist of his office, trying to figure out if there was anything dangerous within Oliver's reach. He didn't think there was – there were weapons in his office but they were kept well off the ground. He took a moment to regret just how large his office was.

He heard a clatter, and whirled around to see an open cupboard across the room. The clatter was accompanied by Oliver's babbling, but it didn't sound like he was hurt. Flynn raced across the room as quickly as he could, desperately missing the days before Oliver had learned to crawl.

He rounded the cupboard door and found Oliver sitting on the ground surrounded by hundreds of unsharpened pencils, with an overturned box sitting to his side. The pencils had rolled across the floor after Oliver had pulled the box down off the shelf second up from the floor. He looked up at Flynn with an innocent smile, obviously pleased at the noise he'd made.

Flynn sighed. "I suppose I brought this on myself by taking my eye off you." He picked Oliver up and carried him back to the blanket. He set Oliver down in the middle, and pulled over a bunch of wooden blocks. "Here," he said, stacking them up. "Knock these over instead."

Oliver swatted his hand at the blocks, giggling as they toppled over. Flynn smiled and patted him on the head, and then went to pick up the pencils. He knelt on the ground and started gathering up the pencils, always keeping one eye on Oliver. The baby hadn't attempted to crawl off the blanket again, which he took as a good sign.

There was a knock at the door, and he turned his head over his shoulder to say, "Come in."

The door opened and Sodia appeared. She was a bit confused when she didn't see him at his desk, but quickly spotted him off to the side, cleaning up the pencils. "Oh, Commandant, let me do that for you."

"It's alright," Flynn said, piling them back into the box. "I've got it."

Sodia knelt next to him and started piling up the pencils, trying to pick them all up for him before he could do it himself.

"It's really not a problem," Flynn said. "I brought this on myself."

"You shouldn't have to worry about things like this," Sodia said. "You're the commandant; you have more important work to do than picking up office supplies."

"And that's the job for a major, is it?"

"You're busier than I am, sir." She put the last pencil away and put the box back on the shelf. "If I may ask, what happened?"

"Oh, Oliver got into a bit of trouble when I wasn't looking. Do you need something, Sodia?"

"I came to see if you had finished the budget report."

Flynn looked at the stack on his desk, still only half done. "Not yet. I'm sorry. I've been a bit distracted today."

Sodia looked pointedly at Oliver, who was gumming one of the blocks. "I understand, sir. What is he doing here, anyway?"

"Lady Estellise needed a babysitter."

Sodia frowned judgmentally. "She couldn't think of anyone less busy?"

"You know how she is," Flynn said, sitting back down at his desk. "She's very particular about who she leaves him with."

"And yet Yuri Lowell babysits all the time."

Flynn glanced up at her. He didn't have to say anything – they'd had this conversation a lot. He knew Sodia didn't like or trust Yuri, but both he and Estelle did and he didn't need her questioning that trust every time Yuri's name was brought up.

Sodia gave him an apologetic glance. They'd worked together long enough that she understood precisely what that look was supposed to mean.

"I'll hopefully have the reports done in an hour. Could you please return then to pick them up?"

Sodia stood up straight and saluted. "Of course, sir."

She left, and Flynn looked to Oliver. "I need to get this done, alright? No more distractions."

Oliver gurgled, and went back to chewing on his blocks. Flynn looked down and focused on his paperwork, being careful to look up every few minutes to make sure Oliver hadn't crawled off again. The constant knocking, rattling, and playful babbling was distracting, but he found it better than silence. If Oliver went silent, he had probably gotten up to something.

This system worked for about half an hour. Flynn blew through his paperwork, eliminating a good chunk of it. He was on a roll, and beginning to think he was going to get this done on time after all. Then, the unthinkable happened. Oliver found a toy that squeaked.

The first time the high-pitched squeak sounded through the office, Flynn jumped a bit in surprise and accidently left a streak of black ink across the box he'd been trying to fill. He stared down at the box, which was at the very bottom of the form, and debated whether he could work around it, or if he would have to completely redo this one.

The rubber rabbigo squeaked again, and Flynn put his pen down in irritation. "Is that really necessary, Oliver?"

Oliver babbled something and squeezed the rabbigo again, pleased to have gotten Flynn's attention.

"Don't you have to take a nap or something?" Flynn said.

Oliver bashed the rabbigo against the ground a few times, eliciting a cry of pleasure nearly as high pitched as the squeaking. He was clearly enjoying himself, so Flynn tried to get back to work. At least he wasn't getting into trouble.

However, he quickly found that working through the squeaking was not possible. It had just the right pitch and frequency to drive him mad. He gripped his pen tightly in his hand and took a deep breath to try and calm down. He could do this. He had just to tune out the noise and –

_SQUEAK_.

Flynn slammed the pen down on the desk. He couldn't do this. He got up and walked back to the blanket and sat on his knees in front of Oliver. "Can you give me that toy and you can have a quieter one?"

Oliver stared at him and then squeaked the rabbigo again.

"No," Flynn said, "you need to stop that. I'm not going to get any work done."

Oliver did not seem to care about Flynn's work productivity. Flynn reached out and took the rabbigo from Oliver's hands. "Find a different toy," he said, hiding it behind his back. Oliver stared at him with wide eyes, not sure why his toy had miraculously vanished from existence. He grunted in confusion.

With his other hand, Flynn grabbed the rattle. "Why don't you play with this again? That was fun."

Oliver didn't seem thrilled about the rattle. Flynn sighed, and then, with the rabbigo still behind his back, he experimentally squeaked it again.

Oliver squealed and giggled, a big smile lighting up his face. Amazingly, his squeaky toy had _not_ actually been erased from existence! The world must be full of miracles to a baby, Flynn thought. He pulled the rabbigo out from behind his back and squeezed it again. Oliver giggled and reached for it, but Flynn wasn't willing to give it back just yet. He held it high above Oliver's head and squeezed it again, and then brought it close and bumped his nose with it.

Even though Oliver seemed to be enjoying himself, Flynn was pretty sure this squeaky toy was going to have to mysteriously vanish if he was going to get any work done. First, he'd have to distract Oliver with another toy. He put the rabbigo down and grabbed a toy carriage.

"Look, isn't this fun?" He rolled it along the floor, and Oliver tracked its movement with his eyes. "It goes really fast, see?" He rolled it around Oliver quickly, complete with zooming sound effects.

Flynn wasn't really sure what happened next. One minute, he was intending to distract Oliver long enough so he could hide the squeaky rabbigo and get back to work. Then, twenty minutes had mysteriously passed and he was lying on his chest on the blanket, stacking up a wall of blocks. As soon as Flynn pulled his hands away, Oliver knocked the wall over.

"Oh no!" Flynn said with exaggerated horror. "You've destroyed our defenses! We must re-direct our troops to defend the town." He grabbed the carriage and rolled it toward the demolished wall. "Will they get here in time to fend off the giant baby?"

Oliver reached forward, grabbed one of the blocks, and then stuck it in his mouth. "We're too late!" Flynn said. "The baby is eating the town!"

He let go of the carriage and reached across the blanket to grab a large stuffed bird with floppy fabric wings. "But look! A giant Entelexeia has come to save the townspeople!" He circled the bird around Oliver's head, attracting his attention. He bopped Oliver on the head with the stuffed beak. "Caw! Caw!"

Someone cleared their throat. Flynn froze. Olive reached up and grabbed the bird out of his hand while Flynn turned his head, praying the intruder wasn't someone he needed unquestioned respect from. When he saw it was just Sodia, he relaxed somewhat. "Oh, Sodia, it's you," he said with relief. He wasn't exactly happy that Sodia had found him lying on the ground, squawking like a bird, but she was on the rather short list of people he could handle seeing this.

She stood up straight, trying to be as professional as possible. "E-excuse the interruption, sir!" She seemed almost more embarrassed than Flynn did, and focused her eyes on the window behind his desk. "I knocked but you didn't answer so I let myself in. Please forgive me for the intrusion!"

Flynn got to his feet, leaving Oliver on the ground chewing on the bird's wing. He straightened his shirt and said, "That's, uh, quite alright." Just how long had she been standing there? He'd been so engrossed in playing that he didn't even notice the door opening. Flynn hoped seeing him like this hadn't completely ruined any respect she had for him. He tried hard to be a dignified commander when he was on duty, and what he'd been doing with Oliver was about as far from dignified as you could get.

Sodia managed to bring herself to look at him. "Have you, ah, had a chance to finish those reports yet, sir?"

Flynn glanced at the papers on his desk. He was about three quarters of the way through, and could probably finish within half an hour. Of course, that was assuming he could sit and power through them with no distractions. With Oliver in the office, he wasn't sure if that would be possible. "Not yet." An idea occurred to him. "Sodia, do you have other tasks to complete today?"

"No, sir. I was planning on going home once I picked up the reports from you."

"I see. Then, perhaps I could ask you for a favour? It would be of great help to me if you could stay here and entertain Oliver while I get these done. I'll be able to work faster if I don't have to worry about him."

"Anything, sir."

"Just… please don't give him the squeaky rabbigo."

"Of course not, sir."

Flynn sat back down at his desk and got to work. Now that he didn't have to worry about what Oliver was getting up to, he devoted his full energy to finishing and rushed through page after page. By the end of half an hour, he was pretty tired of signing his name. He put the last paper in the outbox and set his pen down triumphantly. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms in the air.

"I'm finished," he said. "Is everything alright with Oliver?"

"He's fine," Sodia said, looking up. "He likes knocking down the blocks."

"Yes, he seems to have acquired a thrill for destruction – no doubt Miss Mordio's influence." He stood up and walked over to the blanket and sat down next to Sodia. "He's a good kid, though." He reached out and tickled Oliver's foot. Oliver giggled and pulled his foot away, but then Flynn reached out and tickled his belly. Oliver flailed his arms around and laughed, and then reached out and grabbed Flynn's fingers in his own tiny grip. Flynn couldn't help smiling.

He glanced over at Sodia, who was watching him with a thoughtful expression. "Is something wrong, Sodia?"

"It's nothing, sir. I just had no idea you were so good with children. He really seems to like you."

Flynn reached out and scooped Oliver up in his arms. "Well, I used to help look after the little kids in the Lower Quarter when I was younger." Yuri had never been much help when he was babysitting, claiming Flynn shouldn't have gotten himself into that situation in the first place. Flynn decided not to mention this part of the story to Sodia, who had a low enough opinion of Yuri as it was. Standing, he said, "What time is it?"

"Almost five o'clock, sir," Sodia said. "The Council meeting should be out soon."

"Good," Flynn said. "Right now, though, I think he's getting hungry. Turn in those reports for me, please, and then you're excused for the night."

"Right away, sir."

She grabbed the papers from her desk, said, "Good night, sir," and then left the office.

Flynn watched her go, and then turned to Oliver. "Alright, let's get you some food."

* * *

The Council meeting had run a bit later than she expected, and Estelle felt bad for leaving Oliver with Flynn for so long. She hoped he hadn't been too distracting. She knocked on the door to Flynn's office and when she didn't get a response, she opened it a bit and peeked in. She was a bit concerned when she saw an empty blanket on the floor but no people.

"Flynn?" she called, stepping into the office and looking around.

"We're in here, Lady Estellise," came Flynn's voice.

She noticed that the door at the back that led to his private quarters hung open, and she hurried over. When she reached the doorway, she saw Oliver sitting in an armchair, and Flynn kneeling in front of him with a bowl.

"He was hungry," Flynn explained, looking over his shoulder. "I made him some baby food."

"Oh, that was very nice of you, Flynn," Estelle said. She paused. "But, um… what's that smell?"

"I mashed up a banana but it seemed a bit boring so I added some garlic, and then boiled an egg and added the mushed up yolk."

Estelle stared at him in horror as he spooned some of his horrific concoction into Oliver's waiting mouth. "Flynn, wait!" Estelle yelled, running forward. Oliver had only just recently started eating solid foods, and she didn't want her poor baby to be traumatized for life by this early experience with food

"What's wrong?" he asked as Oliver took the spoonful in his mouth.

"He – um – you really didn't have to…" She was torn between telling Flynn he we the single worst chef she had ever met in her entire life, which would hurt his feelings, and allowing him to continue giving Oliver his awful dish. She could smell the horrific mixture of banana, egg, and garlic and she wouldn't wish such a meal on her worst enemy. Maybe Oliver would take care of it for her. He'd had one taste, so he would close his mouth and refuse to eat and save her the rudeness of explaining to Flynn that he was awful at cooking.

She looked to Oliver in anticipation, and was shocked to see him open his mouth expectantly. Flynn fed him another spoonful of the nightmarish mush, and she stared in shock as Oliver ate it without complaint. That was less fuss than he put into eating apple sauce.

"He… likes it?"

Flynn wore a big, happy grin as he continued feeding Oliver. He was obviously not used to having people appreciate his culinary exploits.

"Huh…" Estelle said.

She waited a few minutes for Oliver to finish the bowl, trying not to be sick as she watched him eat it. Was it bad parenting to allow him to eat that? But he really seemed to like it…

"All done," Flynn said, taking a cloth and wiping Oliver's face clean. "Are you ready to go back with your mom now?"

The familiar word seemed to spark a memory in Oliver. Flynn picked him up to hand him to Estelle, but before they reached her Oliver looked at Flynn and said, "Mama."

Flynn paused and frowned. "Uh… no, Oliver, that's not right."

Oliver looked confused, because the last time he'd put those two syllables together everyone had smiled and cheered, but now there was only awkward silence. He tried it again, grabbing at the empty bowl in Flynn's hand, saying, "Mama."

Estelle's heart sank. Maybe Oliver didn't really know what he was saying after all. She took him in her arms and hugged him close.

"Mama," he said, looking up at her.

She smiled. Even if he wasn't really aware of what he was saying, it was still nice to hear him say it. She pulled him close and said, "That's right, Oliver, I am your mommy." She walked to the exit, and looked back at Flynn to say, "Thank you again for doing this. We really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure, Lady Estellise. I think I had more fun doing budget reports today than I ever had before."

"I'm glad," Estelle said with a smile. Behind that smile, though, was a resolution: she must never leave Oliver in Flynn's care over meal times ever again. The future of his taste buds was at stake.


	8. Hello

**Chapter Eight: Hello**

"Yuri, don't drag your feet," Judith said for the tenth time. She had warned him all the way from the Lower Quarter that he was going to scuff his nice shoes, and he could tell she was getting annoyed by the sound. Yuri had tried protesting that he wouldn't drag his feet if his shoes actually fit properly, but apparently they were _supposed_ to be this stiff and tight. Yuri just didn't understand formal wear – how was anyone supposed to run and fight dressed like this?

"You're going to ruin your shoes," Karol warned. "Estelle went through all the trouble of getting this stuff for us."

Today was important enough that Raven and Karol had flown in from Dahngrest with Yuri and Judith, and now the four of them trekked through the Noble Quarter to the castle in formal clothing. And they all had something else they would rather be doing.

"We're almost there; they'll last." Yuri kept a scowl on his face all the way up. It was Oliver's first birthday, and what could have been an entertaining get-together with a few good friends was instead a large event open to various nobles who "just couldn't _dream _of not greeting the young prince on such an important day!"

"Ya don't have ta be such a downer." Raven was taking this better than the others, having lived through his share of formalities. "Go showin' up like that and you'll make everyone upset."

Yuri could only imagine the retribution if he put a damper on something this important to Estelle. She had since calmed down, but Rita had no raging hormones that would stabilize. Yuri groaned as he showed Estelle's letter to the knights, who were more reluctant than usual to let him through. He visited often enough, but in formal wear, they must have put together that a Lower Quarter criminal was about to socialize in a room full of nobles.

"Where is this thing, anyways?" he asked the knight, rubbing it in. Of course Estelle had told them where to go, but the guards didn't have to know that.

The guard hesitated before giving a grumbled answer. "First floor, down the left corridor, and it's the large set of doors that's decorated."

Yuri walked in, hoping that tormenting the guard would bring his mood up long enough to greet Estelle. Judith wrapped her arm around his waist as they walked. "What's up, Judy?"

"Nothing. You seem tense." She leaned in, making walking a little awkward, but he didn't push her off.

"What about you? You wouldn't rather be back at home in something more comfortable?"

"The dress is a little tight."

Yuri grinned. "I can't say I have a problem with that." He became aware of the loud kissing noises Karol was making behind him.

"Let him get it outta his system now," Raven said. "Better here than in there."

They reached the open door, the air thick with the presence of so many stuffy nobles in one room. Estelle noticed them coming in, standing on her toes and waving her arm towards them. "Yuri! Everyone!" She broke away from the crowd of people around her to greet them, smiling widely, Oliver balanced at her hip. Rita trailed behind, far less cheery.

"Good to see you again!" Karol pulled her into a hug, carefully leaning around Oliver. "He's getting so big." Oliver looked up at him, face twisted in wide-eyed confusion at the man leaning over him.

"He's getting heavy, too." Estelle shifted his weight to hold him out a little. "Would you like to hold him?"

"Of course!" Karol lifted him from Estelle's arms and looked down at him with a huge smile. Oliver glanced between Estelle and Karol briefly before deciding to start whining and threatening to cry. "Ah, no, it's okay, I'm a friend." Karol looked at him in a panic.

Rita pushed past Estelle to take Oliver before the situation escalated. "We're not doing this again."

"Sorry Karol, he's getting fussy around strangers." Estelle apologized, leaving him to Rita. "Everyone's wanted to hold him today."

"I'm not a stranger!" Karol said.

"He hasn't seen you since he was a week old," Yuri said.

"Aw, I guess so," Karol said, looking down. With all the jobs Brave Vesperia had been taking on lately, there was never time for the boss of the guild to make it to Zaphias just to visit.

"Don't worry, Karol," Estelle said. "We'll teach him who you are soon enough."

"Just tell them he doesn't want to be passed around and it'll save us the ten minutes of crying." Rita wasn't as accommodating of the crowd as Estelle.

Between the number of people in the room and Estelle's difficulty in saying no, Yuri could only guess how long they'd sat through the crying. She handed Oliver back to Estelle, saying, "Give him back if he's too much."

Estelle took him and held him on her side again. "I really appreciate you guys coming. I'm sure he will too when he's older."

"You know Judy and I were glad to come." Yuri felt it was safe to lie if it kept Estelle smiling. Rita have him a look, seeing through him a lot more easily, but she didn't say anything and let Estelle continue believing that baby birthday parties were indeed something Yuri looked forward to.

"Same goes for old Raven. Ya ladies know I'll always come visit if ya ask." Estelle smiled back at him, while Rita crossed her arms and glared, just daring him to turn that into a comment on how sexy lesbians were.

"The table's this way." Rita changed the topic and pulled them aside, leading them to one of many tables off to the side of the room. "You guys are late."

"Got a little held up," Yuri said, pulling out a seat to slouch over the back.

"Did it have to be so formal?" Karol asked, pulling on his necktie. "We don't go through anything like this in Dahngrest."

"I'm not exactly thrilled either. It's all the same with these people." Rita leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. She glanced around the room in Estelle's direction before continuing, adopting an exaggerated tone. "'Ah, Lady Estellise and the young prince, how absolutely wonderful to see you again. Surely you remember us, our aura of self-worth is so overpowering you must recall us before every other pompous noble in the room.' Please."

"Sounds like a great time." Yuri hadn't been looking forward to being here in the first place, and Rita only dampened his already-soggy spirits. What was the point of having a birthday party for a one-year-old? It's not like he was going to remember it. Now that he'd greeted Estelle and was safely lurking in the corner, he reached up and unknotted his necktie and undid the top button of his shirt. He finally felt like he could breathe again. What was the point of tying a strip of fabric around your neck? How was that supposed to be fancy? They'd probably been invented in the first place by a bored hangman.

"Not ta sound rude," Raven said, "but why exactly are we here? Doesn't seem like a place we belong."

"Estelle made a big deal about it, and it's important to her. Besides, I live with her so it's not like I could have gotten out of it. If I have to suffer through this, you can bet I'm dragging you schmucks along."

Yuri had already guessed this had something to do with Rita going along with another of Estelle's ideas. At least, if someone was going to decide that Brave Vesperia needed to attend a formal party, it wasn't going to be Rita.

"So that's what this is about," Karol groaned. Yuri suspected Karol had a sore spot from how often he was ignored or smacked for Estelle's sake, when they had first met.

"Well I think it's sweet how much you care." Raven sighed dramatically. "Warms the old heart to see two ladies such as yourselves- ow! I didn't say anything yet!" Karol snickered as Rita kicked him under the table.

"You didn't have to."

Karol composed himself to speak. "But all we're doing is sitting here? I haven't seen Estelle in months, but I can't catch up with everyone surrounding her like that."

"And spending time with me isn't enough for you?" Yuri knew Rita was only teasing, but he worried someone would take her seriously. Although maybe an argument would liven up this place; he hesitated to call it a party.

"I'd be afraid to say yes, but can you even reach my head anymore?" Karol smirked, having picked up on Yuri's sarcastic streak while he was still young and impressionable. Rita glared, but said nothing.

Judith got up from the table and said, "I'm going to go find food. Don't get too bored before I get back, ok?"

"I'll try," Yuri said. He looked to Rita and said, "So how has it been for you before we got here?" Yuri leaned his chair back, balancing it on two legs.

Rita groaned, sitting up and once again imitating the people she'd spoken to. "'My, what a surprise. I never expected to see the princess's friend in person, what a tiring endeavor that must be for you. Of course, I've heard you were merely a researcher, is this true? That sounds a fair bit common, I do wonder how you manage to work like that and live by such high standards.'"

"It's none of their business anyways," Yuri agreed. "How'd you handle it?" This had to have a good story behind it.

"I told him what he could do with his standards." She leaned forward against the table, less than pleased with the outcome. "Estelle wasn't exactly thrilled when she heard that. She said there's an image we have to keep up for something."

"Boring," Karol complained. "Just how many people are coming?"

"Most of the Royal Quarter. It's an open event." She waved her hand, irritated "Completely ridiculous, Oliver doesn't need to know this many people. _I _don't want to know all these people."

"Why go through all this in that case?" Karol asked. Things tended to be a bit less flamboyant in the guilds, and sometimes Karol just didn't understand how imperial royalty worked.

"Tradition or something." Rita sounded irritated, glancing in Estelle's direction again. "He hardly comes from a traditional family, anyways."

"The kid'll forget them all soon anyways." Raven had been quiet, nursing his bruised shin. "Their faces all melt together after a while, and he can't even remember Karol."

Rita was about to respond when Estelle came up to the table. Rita quit mocking the crowd behind her to ask, "What is it?"

Estelle pushed Oliver into her lap. "He's getting upset with me, everyone keeps surrounding him. See if you can calm him down."

Rita bounced him on her knee while Yuri leaned over and rubbed his belly, something the other people in the room couldn't get away with. "Stop passing him around to everyone who asks, then," she said.

"You should walk around with us," Estelle suggested. "He might settle down if you're there too, since… you know." Estelle had spent the last year voicing her displeasure to her friends at being advertised as a single parent, and the hordes of nobles telling her how brave and strong she was to be doing this on her own didn't help.

"They don't know that, and I can't follow behind you all day." Rita shrugged. "Just sit here for a while, we're more important than any noble in this room. You could use a break, too."

Estelle reluctantly took a seat next to her, folding her hands in her lap and looking back at the crowd for a second before looking back to Karol. "I really am happy you could come. How are things in Dahngrest?"

Yuri zoned out as Karol answered, leaning back and letting his mind wander. He leaned back in the chair, trying to balance on the back to legs. He kept falling forward and catching himself on the table. A couple times he leaned too far back and had to grab the table to save himself from falling backwards. His heart skipped a beat, and it was the most excitement he'd had all evening. Coming here was a bad idea. He didn't belong at swanky parties, it almost sounded more appealing to face Rita's retribution if he didn't show up.

He stared out at the crowd, hoping for a distraction. One of the men caught his attention, and he perked up. "Flynn? Hey Flynn get over here!"

Flynn looked over at the sound of his name, grimaced, and excused himself from the cluster of men he was speaking to. Estelle turned her head to see and waved her hand to get his attention.

"What is it, Yuri?" he asked when he reached their table. He sounded annoyed.

"Nice outfit," Yuri said, looking him up and down. "I've seen fewer useless baubles and gold braids on a five year old girl."

"It's my dress uniform, Yuri," Flynn said. He looked down with a frown and picked at the epaulets. "I didn't pick it."

"How can you even move with that many medals dragging you down?"

Estelle cut in, saving Flynn from answering. "It's good to see you, Flynn. I didn't see you come in, and I worried you couldn't make it."

"I wouldn't miss Oliver's party for the world," he said with a smile that told Yuri he was almost as excited to be here as Yuri was. That was the major difference between the two of them, Yuri thought. Flynn had a much higher tolerance for bullshit. "It is my duty to both assist the princess and associate myself with the citizens I protect." He took the last remaining seat, next to Yuri.

"Lay off it Flynn, you're not on duty today," Yuri groaned.

In a voice almost as starchily stiff as his shirt, Flynn said, "As commandant, I'm expected to retain a professional appearance at all hours."

"I still don't see what's professional about a hundred yards of gold braid. Besides, it's supposed to be a party, so relax." Yuri shoved Flynn's shoulder, but he only straightened and adjusted his sleeve, particularly the golden fringe hanging from his shoulder.

"I'd appreciate it if you acted your age." Flynn turned to speak to Estelle. "Has your night been well, Lady Estellise?"

Yuri stopped paying attention as they started chatting about the various nobles she'd talked to. He planned to ask Estelle if it was even legal to call something this dull and uneventful a party.

After a little while, Estelle and Rita excused themselves and returned to making rounds with Oliver. Flynn remained where he was, taking a bit of a rest from socializing for now by resting his chin in his hand and looking out at the crowd with a thoughtful expression. Yuri was still more bored than he'd been after sitting in jail for three days, so he turned to one of his oldest and most reliable methods of entertainment: pestering Flynn. "Hey Flynn." He pointed a finger at him and hovered it an inch from his shoulder. "I'm not touching you."

"That's nice, Yuri." He didn't even look over.

"Not touching."

"Is this really necessary, Yuri?"

"Still not touching."

Flynn slammed his hand into the table as he whirled around. "Would you act like an adult?"

Yuri leaned back and felt a small thrill of satisfaction from finally getting a response. Flynn always tried so hard to act dignified and mature, and forcing him to lose his temper had been a great game for Yuri since childhood. He laughed at Flynn and then said, "Don't be so grouchy, Old Man."

Raven looked over from his conversation with Karol and said, "Did ya say somethin' ta me, Yuri?"

"No," Yuri said, "Flynn's the old man now. He turned thirty a couple weeks ago."

"Is that so?" Raven said, leaning forward. "Well then, welcome, Commandant, ta the glorious realm of middle age."

Flynn crossed his arms. "Yuri, you'll be thirty too in just three months."

"I know the years go by quickly at your advanced age, but you don't have to break the will of someone with so much to look forward to." Yuri slumped over the table. The trouble with teasing Flynn about his age was that it inevitably turned into a reminder that his own twenties were rapidly ending.

"You're making a complete fool of yourself." As if trying to make up for Yuri's improper actions, he sat up straighter and shifted to turn away.

"Do something entertaining," Yuri insisted.

"I was in the middle of a nice conversation before you pulled me away." He glared.

"You're saying talking with the pompous nobles out there is honestly better than talking with me?" Yuri cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm telling you that I was in the middle of a conversation and was under no obligation to stop and entertain you."

Yuri smirked; this was definitely bothering him. "So they are boring. Got it." He picked up a glass in front of him and held it up to his mouth, blowing bubbles into the water.

"No, Yuri, that isn't what I said." He pushed his palm into his forehead. "Would you please stop blowing into your drink like a child?"

He lowered his glass and sat up straight. "I'm bored."

"Congratulations."

Rita appeared behind Yuri and dropped Oliver into his lap. "I'm stepping out, I've been here too long. Watch him."

"Where are you going?" he asked, one hand on Oliver's side. After a year, he'd finally gotten used to having a baby suddenly thrust upon him whenever he was in the same room as Oliver.

"I told you, I'll be right back." She turned and left him before he could ask another question. He considered calling 'take me with you' but she had already disappeared through the crowds. Yuri looked down at Oliver, and had an idea. He held him up to Flynn. "You want to hold him?"

"I would like to keep this shirt clean." He leaned away, watching Yuri closely as if afraid Yuri would throw him at him.

"Come on, let's see who he likes better. Battle of the best uncle." Yuri grinned, holding his arms out to push Oliver closer to Flynn.

"Oh, yeah!" Raven said. "Ya guys got ta do it right. Put him down in the middle of the room and see who he crawls ta."

"That isn't necessary." Flynn glared and grabbed Yuri's wrists, pushing him back without touching Oliver, who was babbling and reaching out in confusion.

"Afraid you'll lose? Look, I think he wants you." Yuri turned Oliver around to speak to him. "I don't think Uncle Flynn wants you anymore, kiddo. He cares more about his stuffy shirt."

Raven sighed melodramatically. "It's just heartbreaking ta see a man reject his own nephew."

"He's not actually my nephew, you know," Flynn said.

"Close enough," Karol said. He crossed his arms with a slight pout and added, "At least he knows who you are. Be grateful he wants you to hold him."

"You're being completely ridiculous." Flynn was getting irritated again; every time he got his temper under control, Yuri took it as an opportune time to exercise his antagonizing abilities. "Every single time I hold him, he ruins my shirt."

"Looks like this competition has already been decided," Yuri said. He looked down at Oliver and said, "You wouldn't do that to me, would you? You actually like me." He bounced Oliver on his knee, turning him again to face Flynn. "You want to go see Flynn, right?" Oliver held an arm out towards Flynn and babbled, leaning away from Yuri. He didn't say it aloud, but even though Yuri had been egging him on, it stung a little that he was pulling away from him to reach for Flynn.

Flynn groaned, giving in. "I'll hold him for a minute. Hold a napkin ready in case it looks like he's going to throw up." He reached out and took Oliver while Yuri obliged and picked up a cloth napkin from the table.

"You command all the knights in the empire, and you can't hold a baby without help?" Yuri laughed, confident that he had this much going for him.

"I don't want to have to leave to change shirts, and this is an expensive outfit."

"If he does ruin your shirt, maybe he's trying to send you a message. You look ridiculous."

Flynn sighed. "I didn't pick the uniform, Yuri. If I show up at a royal function underdressed, it could be taken as an insult and drive a wedge deeper between the Council and the Knights."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Yuri said. "Doesn't mean you don't still look ridiculous," he added with a smile.

"Speaking of being underdressed, put your tie on properly."

Yuri wrinkled his nose. "I don't like it."

Karol laughed. "Don't bother, Flynn. I think a fully done-up shirt murdered Yuri's family or something."

"Just put it back on," Flynn said. "You look ridiculous sitting in a formal ballroom with a tie draped around your neck."

"Oh, _I'm_ the one who looks ridiculous? Besides, I don't know how to tie it."

"How did you put it on in the first place?"

"Judy did it for me."

He wrapped one arm around Oliver's waist to hold him still and then leaned forward. "Here, let me do it for you."

Yuri batted Flynn's hand away. "No, leave me alone. I don't want to tie it up."

"You can't leave your shirt open like that."

"Watch me."

"Why are you always so immature?" Flynn demanded, struggling to grab Yuri's tie.

"Why are you always so uptight?"

A plate hit the table next to Yuri, and then Judith leaned between them and picked up Oliver, who was beginning to whine about being pushed around by Flynn's attempt to fix Yuri's tie. "Oh, dear," she said, looking at Oliver. "Are Yuri and Flynn being children again, Oliver?"

Flynn crossed his arms and turned away. "Yuri is being completely unreasonable."

"Welcome back, Judy," Yuri said. "I missed you."

"I can see that," she said. "I am always amazed at the trouble you get yourself into when I'm not around." She balanced Oliver on her hip and held him with one arm, while eating a small meat-based appetizer that probably had a fancy name that Yuri didn't care about. Oliver reached out to grab on the way to her mouth, but he held it to the side out of his reach.

"What took you so long?" Karol asked. "I think Yuri and Flynn were going to strangle each other."

"There was just so much tasty food to choose from," Judith said. She sat down next to Yuri and put Oliver in her lap. "Besides, I ran into noble who thought talking to a real-live Krityan was a dream."

"Hey, Flynn," Yuri said, "look on the bright side: Oliver didn't throw up on you. Looks like he's finally beginning to like you."

"I suppose that is some consolation." He looked over his shoulder and said, "I need to get back to the party. It's not good for politics if the commandant spends the entire evening sitting to the side with personal friends."

"Try not to bore yourself too much."

Flynn smiled a bit. "Alright. Come see me before you leave Zaphias again, Yuri. We should have lunch sometime."

"We'll see you at Estelle and Rita's place tonight, right?" Karol asked. "We were planning on getting together after the party."

"Yes," Flynn said. "I'll see you tonight. Have a good evening, everyone." Flynn turned away and disappeared into the crowds, but at least Yuri now had Judith to entertain him. Oliver sat on her lap, leaning back against her chest with his eyes closed.

"I feel bad for Oliver," Karol said, looking around. "Growing up with all this doesn't sound like any fun. Nowhere near the freedom of the guilds."

"Estelle turned out alright," Judith said. She thought for a moment, and added, "For a given definition of alright. Her heart is in the right place, even if she is a bit flighty and unrealistic at times."

"We'll take care of him," Raven said. He looked over at Oliver, although Yuri had a sneaking suspicion his focus was actually on what was directly behind Oliver, names Judith's breasts. "Ol' Raven'll take ya out when you're older, show you a good time. How about that?"

Karol rolled his eyes. "I don't think Rita or Estelle will be happy with the places _you_ want to take him, Raven."

"I'm offended!" Raven said, putting his hand over his chest. "Besides, every young man needs ta learn how a brothel operates."

"I'm pretty sure there's a reason Estelle and Rita have never left him in your care, Old Man," Yuri said.

"Why aren't I leaving him with Raven?" Estelle asked, suddenly appearing behind Yuri.

"No reason," Raven said quickly, before the others could fill her in.

Estelle looked around the group questioningly, but when no answer was provided she pushed the thought aside and sat down in the seat next to Yuri. "Where did Flynn go?" Estelle asked.

"Off schmoozing with the nobles," Raven said. "I tell ya, that's one thing I _don't_ miss from the knights."

"Judith, do you want me to take Oliver back?"

"It's alright, I've got him," she said. "He seems pretty comfortable."

"How long does this thing last?" Yuri asked. They'd already been here for a while, or at least it felt like it to him.

"Usually it isn't over until everybody decides to go home after sundown."

"Oh. Great." It was still hours until the sun would be down, and Estelle would be disappointed if he left early. He wanted to just get to the after-party with his friends, but he'd have to sit through a few more hours of this ridiculous party first. He leaned over the table, resting his head against it. It was going to be a long, boring night.

* * *

"Whoo," Raven said, collapsing into an armchair in Rita and Estelle's suite later that night. "I am pooped."

"That's because you spent most of the evening trying to hit on noble ladies," Karol said. "Did you really think you had a chance with them?"

"Kid, if scoring was easy it wouldn't be as much fun."

"I'm just glad it's over," Yuri said. He lay on the couch with his head resting on Judith's lap. Estelle hadn't come in yet, so he felt comfortable saying that.

"I think Oliver agrees with you," Rita said. He was asleep in her arms, although she didn't have the energy to get up and put him in his crib just yet.

"Are we going to do this every year?" Yuri asked.

"Probably," Rita said. She saw Yuri's look of horror and said, "I'll give you a heads up when the party is scheduled for. If you happen to have a guild commitment that day, well, I'm sure Estelle will understand."

Yuri took this as permission from Rita to skip parties when he felt like it, and he appreciated the gesture.

The door opened and Flynn and Estelle entered. All talk of how boring the party had been ceased in fear of hurting Estelle's feelings. She sat down in another armchair, her skirt poofing up around her and filling the entire chair.

"Is everything wrapped up?" Judith asked.

"Yes," Estelle said. "I've said goodbye to the last of the guests and we are finally done." She looked over at Rita and said, "Oh, Rita, can't you put him to bed? He looks so tired."

"Yeah, sure," Rita said without moving. "Gimme a sec to get up."

"I'll take him," said Flynn, who was already standing. He scooped Oliver up out of Rita's lap, and then frowned when the baby opened his eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," he said. He held Oliver up and smiled at him as Oliver stared at him. "Hi, did you have a good nap?"

Oliver stared at him, and then said, "Hi."

All eyes turned to Oliver. Yuri raised his head from Judith's lap and looked over in surprise. Estelle sat up with wide eyes. "Did he just…?"

Oliver frowned, squirmed a bit, opened his mouth, and coughed. Spit-up splattered across Flynn's shirt. Flynn's face fell. "Oh."

"He spoke!" Estelle said, finding the energy to jump up. She rushed to Flynn and took Oliver into her arms, then looked down at him and said, "Can you do it again? Can you say 'hi' for Mommy?"

Oliver waved his hand a bit. "Hi."

Estelle broke into a huge grin. "Rita, he really did it! He's really talking this time!"

"That's great, Estelle!" Karol said.

Estelle walked over to Karol and held Oliver out. "Can you say 'hi' to Karol, Oliver?"

Oliver smiled and said, "Hi." He got so much attention every time he said the word, which encouraged him to keep doing it.

"This is wonderful!" Estelle said, hugging him close to her chest. "Oh, Oliver, I'm so happy!"

"That's great, Estelle," Judith said with a smile.

Yuri looked to Flynn, who was standing off to the side with vomit on his shirt, looking around for something to wipe it off with. Estelle and Rita kept napkins in the cupboards below the kitchen, but Flynn was too polite to go rummaging through Lady Estellise's kitchen, and everyone else was too busy fawning over Oliver to help him out. Yuri took pity on him and got up, walking over to the kitchen. He grabbed a cloth napkin from the cupboard and passed it to Flynn. "Guess he doesn't like you that much after all."

"Thanks," Flynn said, wiping his shirt with a frown. "Although, he did say 'hi' to me first, so maybe that cancels out."

"Maybe he was trying to give you an excuse to get rid of that shirt."

"Ha-ha. I'm just lucky I don't have another official function to attend for a little while."

"Come on, Flynn," Yuri said. "You know that when we were little we would have made fun of nobles dressed like you."

Flynn smiled a bit. "You're right. Back then, surviving day-to-day in the Lower Quarter… it would have been impossible to believe that one day I'd be in a position to wear something like that."

Yuri grabbed the napkin and wiped a spot on his shirt that was hidden from Flynn's view by a medal. "Some things have never changed, though. I still have better fashion sense, for example."

"Hm… I seem to recall Lady Estellise telling me about a time you walked around in bright yellow pants and a tank-top."

Yuri looked up and glared at him, his hand frozen on his chest. "That was _one_ time. We were helping out at the hot spring – everyone had weird clothes, ok?"

"Yes, but she said you kept that outfit on for a while after you left."

"I didn't feel like changing. Karol was walking around in just a towel!" He pointed his finger accusingly at Karol, who looked around in alarm at the sound of his name.

"Wait, what?"

"Yuri!" Estelle said, running forward with Oliver. "He hasn't said 'hi' to you, yet!"

Grateful for the interruption, Yuri tossed the dirty napkin on the table and turned his attention to Oliver. He leaned down a bit to get to Oliver's level as he sat in Estelle's arms. "That's right. Hey there, kiddo."

"Hi," Oliver said, blinking sleepily.

"Looks like you're getting sleepy. Are we keeping you awake?"

"Oh, no," Estelle said, looking down. "You're right, I shouldn't keep him up much longer. I'll go put him to bed."

"I'm going to go change my shirt," Flynn said. "Put this in the laundry and put on something a little less… ornate."

"You'll be back, right?" Estelle asked.

Flynn smiled. "Of course, Lady Estellise."

"See you later," Yuri said, heading back to the couch with Judith. Now that they were away from the obnoxious nobles and the pretentious party, he might be able to enjoy this evening after all.


	9. Whoops

**Chapter Nine: Whoops**

Ba'ul landed on the field outside Zaphias after dark, and then Yuri, Judith, and Repede trudged through the Lower Quarter toward their tiny home. They'd been delivering supplies to Aurnion this morning, but then before they could take off again a horde of monsters appeared too close to town for comfort. They couldn't exactly leave without joining the battle, so now they were back in Zaphias much later than they'd been planning. Yuri walked with a bit of a limp, because near the end of the battle a Critis had snuck up on him and tried to take a chunk out of his leg. He'd left his back open because he'd been counting on Judy to cover him, as she always did. However, she'd been somewhat distracted all day and let that one slip by.

He briefly considered heading up to the castle and getting Estelle to heal his leg, but it would be a long and painful walk and they were going up that way tomorrow anyway. They had about three days to kill in Zaphias now. A noble couple had hired Brave Vesperia to fly them to the hot springs in Yumanju, and although Yuri had protested about acting as a charter service for stuck-up nobles, but Karol insisted that a job was a job and since Yuri and Judith had the only air travel in the world, they were stuck with it.

"Do you want a chicken kebob?" Yuri asked Judith, pausing in front of the vendor. He really didn't feel like cooking tonight.

"Hm?" Judith looked over. "What was that?"

"A chicken kebob," Yuri said. "I don't want to cook tonight so we can pick up dinner here."

"Oh, yes, that sounds nice."

"Alright." Yuri paid for the kebobs while Judith went back to thinking. Yuri wasn't sure what her deal was, but she'd been spending a lot of time staring into space in the past couple days. Whenever he looked over at her, she seemed to be off in her own little world. Well, more so than usual, at least. It wouldn't bother him, except he now had a throbbing Critis bite on his calf because she hadn't been paying attention.

He made his way up the stairs to his room, taking a moment to regret living on the second storey. Is this was being old felt like? Dammit, he wasn't thirty yet. He had three more weeks of being in his twenties and he wasn't going to spend them limping around like an old man.

Inside, he set the kebobs down on the table and sat down, stretching his sore leg out in front of him. "Judy, can you put some food down for Repede?"

"Of course," she said.

While she got out the dog food, Yuri pulled out the kebobs and started munching on one. Not as good as his own cooking, if he was being picky, but still pretty tasty. For first the first time all day he was able to sit and relax, and it felt great. They hadn't been in Zaphias for over two months, but he still considered it to be home.

Once Repede was eating, Judith came over and sat down to his right. She didn't start eating, though. Instead, she folded her hands on the table and said, "Yuri… I'm pregnant."

He choked on his kebob, and nearly stabbed himself in throat. He dropped the kebob and coughed a few more times and Judith got up to fetch him a glass of water. After draining the glass and recovering the ability to breathe, he wiped tears from his eyes and stared at Judith. "That's not funny."

"It isn't a joke," Judith said, sitting down again. "I really am pregnant."

"You can't be," Yuri said. "We've talked about this. We said we weren't going to have kids."

"Yes," Judith said, "but we also said 'oh, what are the odds?' when we ran out of birth control two months ago."

"But… that…" Reality slowly started to sink in. Judith wasn't the type to lie about something like this, and she was right, they had skipped out on birth control a couple months ago. The chance of her _actually_ getting pregnant had seemed so impossible he hadn't even thought about it. "Alright," he said, resting his hands on the table and staring down as he gathered his thoughts. "We can handle this. There are… ways of stopping this, right? I've heard of, you know, herbs and stuff. You eat them and it shuts the whole thing down."

"I wouldn't know where to get them," Judith said. "Besides, I've heard they can be fairly dangerous to the mother."

"Oh." Yuri frowned. He definitely did not want a child, but he wouldn't risk Judith's safety just to prevent it. "There's always adoption."

"You would abandon our child at an orphanage and hope that someone is willing to adopt a child who isn't even fully human?"

Yuri sighed through clenched teeth. "Dammit." This had been their mistake; it wasn't right to screw over a kid just because they didn't want to deal with it.

Judith reached out and rested her hand on his. "Yuri, it's ok. We can do this."

He finally raised his eyes from the table and looked up at her. "You're seriously saying you think we can be parents?"

"We've survived worse. We fought Alexei, we fought Duke, and we destroyed the Adephagos."

"That's different," Yuri said. "Those kinds of problems I can handle. Killing an enemy is easy – we're talking about a lifelong commitment to raising another person."

"I'm not saying it won't be hard, but I think that we can handle it. Besides, we don't really have any other options. We should talk to Rita and Estelle about it when we see them tomorrow. I'm sure they can give us advice for being first-time parents."

Yuri nodded slowly. He still wasn't entirely sold on the idea that this could possibly end well, but he accepted that it was going to happen. They'd screwed up and accidentally made a baby, and now it was their responsibility to do the best for this child as they could. He looked around the small room that was their home. Would they need to get a bigger place? They were hardly ever here, and there was plenty of room on the Fiertia. Their apartment in Dahngrest was big enough to add a third person, he thought. And what about travel? He and Judith rarely stayed in the same place for more than a week; would it be a problem for a small child to travel so much? They spent a lot of time running into battle together, but obviously they couldn't take a kid with them. They'd have to find some other arrangement.

He took a deep breath. They still had at least eight months to deal with the specifics. Maybe by the time the baby came Yuri would have come to terms with the idea of being a father. Oh, shit, he was going to be a father. Just the thought of using that word scared him. There was a _lot_ of responsibility behind it. It was bad enough that the word always danced around the back of his brain whenever he held Oliver, but now it was going to be real. He wasn't Oliver's father, not really, but this new kid truly was going to be his son or daughter.

Yuri sat at the table, staring into space. Judith had already gone back to eating, but Yuri couldn't pick up the kebob. He was fine with being Oliver's uncle, because uncles didn't have to worry about actually raising the kid to be a good person.

"Are you going to eat?" Judith asked, nodding at his untouched kebob.

Yuri looked down at his meal and frowned. "No. I'm not hungry. You can have it."

She leaned over and grabbed it while Yuri got up and limped over to the bed. He was sore, he was tired, and he felt like the whole world and just flipped upside down, so he was going to bed. He pulled off his shirt and crawled into bed, wondering if maybe he'd wake up and find that this had all been some crazy dream.

About ten minutes later, Judith had finished dinner and cleaned up the plates. She lay down next to him on the small bed and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Are you still worrying?"

"It's still on my mind, yeah." He reached out and rested a hand on her bare stomach. There was a person in there. A person he was totally responsible for taking care of.

"Look on the bright side," Judith said. "At least making this baby was a lot more fun than making Oliver."

"I can't argue with that," he said. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry about me. It's just a lot to wrap my mind around. I think we're both going to need to settle down a bit in order to be parents."

"You're probably right," Judith said with a pout. "We're not going to be able to fight as much, are we?" She sighed dramatically. "How boring."

"You should probably stop fighting as much starting now," Yuri said. "I know you love it, but isn't it dangerous to the baby to run into battle while pregnant?"

"That's not fair," she said, closing her eyes and bringing her head to rest against his shoulder.

"Judy, if something stabs you in the belly-"

"I know, I know. This is going to be no fun at all. You know what _is_ going to be fun?"

"Hm?"

"Watching Flynn's face when we tell him."

Yuri chuckled. "You're right. That's going to be hilarious."

* * *

"Look, look, I think he's got it! Are you looking?" Oliver was teetering back and forth struggling to remain upright on his legs while Estelle fawned over him from a foot away. Sure, he "had it" every time he stood upright for the past two weeks, but this time had to be the time he would take his first step on his own. He had gotten enough practice holding onto the table or her hands to scoot along.

Rita looked up just in time to see him fall backwards and land on his butt, giggling as Estelle picked him up to repeat it. Estelle grumbled under her breath, frustrated, but confident that he would pick it up soon. They'd been at it for so long.

"I'm sure he'll get it this time." She propped him up on his feet and backed away.

"If you tire him out he won't go to sleep tonight." Rita turned back to her journal, trying her best to not look interested. Estelle wasn't brought down by her attitude at all, noticing that she'd taken out his baby book and had it scattered amongst her more scientific journals.

"He'll be fine. Watch, I think he's really going to this time." She held her arms out expectantly, watching Oliver lean back and forth before taking an awkward step and falling forwards into Estelle's hands.

"At least you're getting good at catching him."

"He hasn't gotten hurt at least," Estelle pouted, still upset at herself that he kept falling over the first several times they tried. As soon as he was on his feet, he threw himself to the ground, giggling. "No, Oliver, stand up like this." She stood him up, only for him to repeat the action, pulling himself into a laughing fit.

"I think he's done with it." Rita leaned back on the couch, watching Estelle as she struggled to hold Oliver upright.

"But he almost had it." She sulked, leaving him giggling and grabbing at his feet to sit on the couch.

"Didn't the book say he'd learn at his own pace? Just leave him alone about it." He pulled himself onto the table to walk himself to them, using it as a guide to support him.

"But it also said a lot of babies are walking on their own by now." She settled into her seat, pouting as she watched him. He was doing his best to walk, but he just wasn't walking to her the way she wanted.

"Estelle. He's fine." She laid an arm across her shoulders to pull her closer. "Calm down and stop worrying so much about it."

"I guess you're right." Oliver still wasn't walking on his own like she'd been trying to teach him, but she had to smile. He pulled himself over to them, leaning against Rita's leg and babbling.

"I'll get him his lunch." Rita stood up and scooted him aside, crossing the room into the kitchen. Estelle watched her leave, as Oliver shakily followed behind her.

Wait, Oliver was following her. She held a hand over her mouth and nearly squealed as she tried to speak. "Rita! Rita! Really look this time!"

"I told you," she turned around, "just leave him alone."

"No really look!" She pointed to him waving his arms as he balanced and trekked forward. Rita caught him under his arms as he stumbled, standing him back up. "He's really walking!"

"I guess all that practice did pay off." She almost sounded calm, but Estelle recognized that she was just as excited as she was. Although anybody could tell, given how much she was grinning while looking at him.

Estelle stood and crouched on the floor near him like she had been before. "Can you walk to me now?"  
Oliver wobbled back and forth, but only offered, "Hi."  
"Yes, hello, Oliver." She held a hand out. "Can you walk?"

"Up."

"I can't pick you up until you come over."

Rita turned away while he was distracted to make his lunch. He noticed, following after her once again. "Up."

"No, go back with Mom." Rita pointed the other direction towards Estelle, who was quickly becoming disappointed. He was following after his mom like he should, but she was his mom too and she couldn't even get his attention.

"Mom." He reached up at her.

Rita sighed, walking back into the living room to sit behind Estelle, wrapping her arms around her. Estelle looked back, confused, as she grabbed her wrists and stuck her arms out low. "Try calling him now," she told her.

"Oliver?" Estelle took her advice, speaking shakily, worried he would completely block her out again. "Can you walk here?"

"Mom." He had to walk a wobbly circle to turn around, but made it to her before falling into her hands, balance lost. She smiled, hugging him tightly.

"Thanks, Rita."

"I didn't do anything, he walked to you on his own." She let go and returned to the kitchen to smash a banana into a bowl. Her face was turned away, but Estelle was convinced she could even hear her smiling.

"I can't wait to tell everyone what he did. I'll bet they'll be just as excited." Oliver babbled into her chest, probably agreeing.

There was a knock at the door. Rita left the bowl of banana goop on the table as she walked by, telling Estelle, "I've got it."

"If that's Yuri and Judith, they're here early." She let go of Oliver to straighten out her skirt, wrinkled from kneeling on the floor all day. He threw himself to the floor again, laughing while holding onto her knee.

Rita opened the door, revealing that yes, they had shown up uncharacteristically early. She invited them in, Estelle getting up to greet them and show them what Oliver had just learned. Yuri wasn't always interested in hearing about Oliver's exploits while he was away – in fact he often looked outright bored – but this was important and he would probably be just as excited as her.

"I hope we're not intruding on anything." Judith stepped in, Yuri behind her. "I wasn't sure if I would be able to get Yuri here in time otherwise."

"Is something wrong?" Rita shut the door behind him, leaving it unlocked for when Flynn came up.

"Nothing, I'm just distracted." Judith shot him a look, but stayed silent.

"Oh, you're limping!" Estelle rushed to his side and tried to pull him into one of the dining chairs. "Sit down, let me look at it. When did this happen?"

He sat down and lifted up his pant leg, revealing the bite wound. Estelle healed it immediately before he could get a good look at it, seeing only new skin weaving over muscle as it stitched itself back together. "Thanks. This was just last night – took a bite when I wasn't looking."

"You should've come to me when it happened." Estelle let him stand to test out his leg. "If you wait too long it might not heal completely."

"I was tired," Yuri said. "I didn't want to make the walk. Look, see?" He took a few steps and stretched his leg. "It's fine."

"That's not like you to let your guard down," Rita said. She had Oliver settled into his high chair and was trying to feed him. Estelle wondered if it was normal for babies to fight against food as much as he did; perhaps he was just really picky.

"Everyone has their off days." Yuri shrugged, sitting back in the chair.

"What Yuri means," Judith said, "is he'll explain once Flynn gets here."

"It's not something dangerous, is it?" Estelle asked. It wasn't like him to keep secrets from them, not anymore at least.

"Nah, I just don't want to have to explain it twice." He sounded sincere about it, but she did wonder what it was. If explaining it would take enough time that he didn't want to repeat it, it must've been big news.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Estelle had her own big news to share. "Rita, are you almost done feeding him?"

"He doesn't want it." She was pushing the spoon against his mouth as he turned his head from side to side to shake her off.

"He can finish later, let's show them!" All but pushing Rita aside, she pulled him out to put him on the floor again. With less hesitation than before, he stuck his foot out and began walking back towards Rita to hold onto her leg.

"How wonderful." Judith was leaning over the table to see him, weight on her hands. She was smiling slightly, watching him with some interest.

"Won't be long before he learns to pick up a sword," Yuri said, content with watching him from where he was sitting.

"No, that's too dangerous!" Estelle placed him back into his chair for Rita to continue feeding him. He looked at her, face scrunched in confusion as to why she would take him out and pay attention to him only to lock him in the chair again.

"Up," he protested, reaching outwards towards them.

"No, shut up and eat," Rita told him, putting the spoon back in his face.

Estelle gave her an annoyed look. They'd been over this: she wasn't supposed to tell Oliver to 'shut up'.

"You ever think that he doesn't like bananas?" Yuri asked.

"He doesn't like anything." Estelle sat down at the table across from Yuri. "He gets hungry but he doesn't want to eat when we feed him."

"Yuri can be a really picky eater too," Judith said as she sat down at the table next to him. "It can be a nightmare to cook for him."

"I'm not picky," Yuri said. "I'll eat almost anything no matter what it is."

"That's my point. You don't like a lot of things but you eat them anyway, and I can tell when you're unhappy." Judith looked at him. "If you'd speak up about it you wouldn't have to eat things you don't want to, and I wouldn't waste time cooking things you don't like."

"What kind of food do you like, Yuri?" Estelle asked. He never told her he disliked anything that she made, and she worried she'd been annoying him.

Judith answered for him. "If it was up to him we'd eat nothing but dessert every day."

"That's not true; I cook other things." He slouched in his chair, arms crossed.

There was a knock at the door, and then Flynn came in. "Pardon the intrusion, it was unlocked."

"I'll go pour the tea then," Estelle said as she left into the kitchen. She decided she would show Flynn that Oliver could walk by having him walk towards him. "You should take Oliver out, he'll want to play if everyone's here." Rita shrugged, wiping his face off before putting him back on the floor.

"Has anything new happened while I was gone?" He pulled a chair next to Yuri, scooting up to see Oliver playing with a stuffed Rabtor on the floor.

"Yes, actually!" Estelle said as she walked back in. "Oliver wants to show you something soon." She poured his cup and passed it to him.

"I can't wait to see."

Unlike Yuri, Flynn always seemed genuinely interested when Estelle told him about Oliver. Rita said he was just better at faking it, but Estelle chose to believe otherwise. She knelt next to Oliver, picked him up under the arms, and aimed him at Flynn. "Go see Uncle Flynn, Oliver."

She released him, but rather than walking to Flynn, he plopped down again and picked up his stuffed Rabtor. Estelle sighed and hung her head.

Flynn took a sip from his cup. "Don't worry; I'm sure he'll show me when he feels like it. Yuri, I heard from Kaufman that there was some trouble near Aurnion yesterday. That's where you were, right?"

"Just some monsters," Yuri said, waving his hand. "Nothing to worry about."

Estelle looked up to glare at him, though Yuri wasn't facing her and didn't notice. She'd seen the size of that bite on his leg, and it hadn't been 'nothing to worry about'. She wished Yuri would stop doing this. Nobody thought Yuri was an infallible perfect warrior, so she didn't know why he went to such pains to avoid letting others know when he was hurt. She left Oliver where he was and got up to continue serving tea.

"I've been swamped with paperwork," Flynn said. "But that's my default state of being these days. Time's been going by so fast lately, it's hard to believe it's been over two months since I saw you last. So, what have you been up to?"

Yuri took a tea cup from Estelle. "Not much. Judy's pregnant. What about you?"

Flynn choked loudly on his tea, barely swallowing it before spitting it out, a hand held over his mouth. Estelle had forgotten she was pouring a cup and spilled tea over the table, and Rita actually looked up from the thoughts that had her staring into space.

"I thought you two were trying to avoid that?" Rita said, curious.

"Rita you can't just ask someone that," Estelle told her quickly. She set the teapot down and looked to Yuri expectantly. She tried to hold in a grin. The idea of Yuri and Judith having a baby was very exciting to her, but she also knew that Yuri had been quite adamant about having no interest in being a father. She wanted to see how he was reacting before she gushed all over them.

"It's fine," Judith said. "It just happened." That seemed to be how everything went for Judith, it 'just happened'.

"Yuri…" Flynn said, staring at his friend in shock, "are you serious?"

"This isn't the kind of thing I'd joke about," Yuri said.

"Um…" Estelle said worriedly, "Are you… ok?"

"I'm fine," Yuri said, although Estelle knew he'd say that whether or not he really was fine.

"We weren't planning or expecting this," Judith said, "but it's not like we're devastated by the news."

"So… you're going to be parents!" Estelle couldn't hold her excitement back any longer. She sat down across from Yuri and folded her hands on the table, serving tea forgotten. Rita noticed this, and reached over to grab the teapot herself. "This is so exciting, Yuri! Have you picked out any names yet?"

Yuri leaned back a bit, taken aback by her enthusiasm. "Uh, no. I haven't really thought about that at all yet."

"You'll have to bring him or her over for play dates all the time."

"We're planning on making our apartment in Dahngrest 'home'," Judith said. "We probably won't be able to travel as much with a baby."

"Oh, but, couldn't you stay in Zaphias?" Estelle asked, a bit disappointed. If they settled in Dahngrest, she'd only get to see the new baby every few months. She knew from watching Oliver how quickly time passed for an infant.

"It's not practical," Yuri said. "Our place above the Brave Vesperia main office is a bit bigger than my room in the Lower Quarter."

"I understand," Estelle said.

Rita had spent the conversation with her chin in her head, looking at the pair thoughtfully. She finally said, "I suppose this answers the question of whether humans and Krityans are capable of interbreeding. Hm, I've never heard of a half-Krityan person before. I wonder what their biology would be like?"

Judith frowned. "No, Rita, we're not letting you perform tests on our baby."

"But think of the advances in science! Just one blood sample?"

"No," Yuri said.

Rita scowled at them and turned to her tea.

Oliver had apparently realized he was no longer the center of attention. He pulled himself up using the table leg and stumbled over to Flynn, grabbing his leg. "Up."

Flynn, who had spent the entire conversation staring at Yuri with a concerned look, said, "Not now, Oliver, I-" He looked down at Oliver, and sighed. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Estelle looked over and saw mushed banana smeared all over Flynn's pants. "Oh, no," she said, crestfallen. She'd missed Oliver's steps because she was so caught up in Yuri and Judith's story, and now he'd gone and messed up yet another article of Flynn's clothing. "I'm sorry, Flynn, I don't know why he always manages to do this."

"It's alright," Flynn said, standing up. He gently pried Oliver's hands off his leg and sat him back down and on the floor. He glanced at the door, and then said, "Please excuse me, I'm going to go, uh, change. Yuri, could you come with me, please?"

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought that you had this under control by your age, but if our commandant needs help changing his pants…"

Flynn scowled at him. "Just come with me, Yuri."

Yuri laughed a bit and stood up. "We'll be right back."

They left the room, and Estelle rounded the table to pick up Oliver. She held him on her hip with one arm, and grabbed a napkin to clean his fingers with her other. "Isn't this exciting, Oliver?" she said. "You're going to have a little cousin!"

"Technically a sibling," Rita said. "Or, a half-sibling."

"Yuri doesn't want to be Oliver's father," Estelle said, putting the napkin in the laundry and then setting Oliver down next to his stuffed rabtor. "I think family ties and roles are more important than genetics." She sat back down next to Rita and leaned over the table. "Now, Judith, if you ever need any help or have any questions, you can ask me!" She smiled brightly. Judith had always seemed a lot more worldly and knowledgeable than Estelle, so she enjoyed feeling like for once she was the experienced one.

"I think I have everything under control, but thank you for the offer, Estelle," Judith said.

"Oh, and if it's a boy, you can have Oliver's old clothes."

"I don't know if Yuri will enjoy dressing his son like a prince," Judith said.

"You're probably right," Estelle said, laughing a bit.

* * *

Yuri followed Flynn down the hall toward his office. Even though Flynn had asked him to come so they could talk, Flynn remained silent. His thoughts swirled through his mind, and he didn't want to speak before he had fully gathered his thoughts. The news that Yuri was going to have a kid had shocked him, and the thought of Yuri being a father was a bit scary. He loved Yuri like a brother, and he'd trust Yuri to have his back in any situation, but Yuri definitely wasn't the person on the top of Flynn's list of people who should be in charge of raising a child.

"So… you wanted to talk?"

Flynn glanced back at him, and let out a deep breath. He didn't want to talk before he knew exactly what he wanted to say, because what he wanted to say had the potential to be insulting. He needed Yuri to know that while he supported him, he also had worries about the wellbeing of the child. "I'm not mad at you, Yuri."

"Well, good," Yuri said. "Because it would be pretty stupid if you were mad at me for making a mistake that only affects Judith and I."

"That's the thing, Yuri," Flynn said. "It doesn't just affect you. You're talking about bringing a child into the world. That is a _huge_ responsibility."

"I'm well aware of that," Yuri said. "But what's done is done. The kid is coming whether we want it or not, so we're going to deal with it."

"A child isn't something you 'deal' with," Flynn said. They reached his office and Yuri followed him inside. "If you're not fully committed to being the best father you can be, you're doing this child a disservice. I'm sure with my connections I could arrange some sort of adoption."

"I considered that," Yuri said. "But Judy and I decided that we don't want to do that."

"You are one hundred percent sure you want to be this child's father?"

"Honestly? No."

Flynn reached the door to his room and paused with his hand on the doorknob. "Then what are you-?"

"Because this is my kid. You got to take responsibility for your actions. I know what it's like to have your dad skip out on you at birth, and I'm not going to be that kind of father."

Flynn sighed and opened the door. "I understand. Wait here," he said, gesturing at the couch in his living room. "I'm going to get changed."

"Are you sure you don't want my help?"

Flynn gave him a dry look. "I think I can handle it." He went to his bedroom and threw his pants into the laundry hamper. He wondered if Yuri's child would have the same propensity for ruining his clothes every time they met. He called out, "You're not going to take the kid on dangerous guild jobs, are you?"

"I'm not that stupid, Flynn," Yuri called back.

Flynn grabbed a new pair of pants from his drawer. "You and Judith are prepared to enforce some sort of discipline, right?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yuri shouted from the living room

"Only that you're both very easy-going, anything-goes, chaotic people." He did up the button on his pants and walked to the doorway, looking at Yuri on the couch. "And that's fine. You work very well together in a relationship, but a kid needs a little structure."

"We'll be fine," Yuri said, looking over at him. "We're not idiots."

Flynn eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was going to have to find an excuse to make trips out to Dahngrest to make sure this kid was being raised properly.

"Don't worry so much," Yuri said. "He'll be fine."

"Or she," Flynn added, walking across the room and sitting down on the couch next to him.

"Right, or she," Yuri said.

"Are you hoping for a son?"

Yuri leaned back and shrugged, but Flynn said the flash of confirmation on his face.

"If you're worried about having a kid who will sword fight with you, look no further than your partner to know you can still do that with a girl."

"It's not that," Yuri said. "But… I don't really know what I'd do with a girl. I was a boy myself, and I have experience with Karol and kids like Ted in the Lower Quarter, but I've never really interacted with little girls. I have no idea what they're like. A son I think I could handle, but a daughter is scary."

"I'm sure Judith can help you. She was a girl once, after all. Or, a Krityan. I'm assuming that's the same." Flynn actually knew very little about Krityans and the fact that Yuri's child wasn't going to be totally human was weird to think about. "Speaking of Judith," Flynn braced himself, knowing this was probably going to make Yuri mad, "have you considered marrying her?"

Yuri looked over at him in annoyance. "Are you still going on about this?"

"It's the right thing to do, Yuri. You got her pregnant – you should make an honest woman out of her."

"We don't want to get married," Yuri said. "And Judith is plenty honest. I don't see the point in getting married."

"It would keep your child from being a bastard, for one."

"I don't feel the need to get the government involved in our relationship. He – or she – is going to have two loving parents in a stable relationship, which is a lot more than most of us had growing up."

Flynn leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "I suppose I can't force you."

"That's right; you can't."

"So…" Flynn said thoughtfully. "This is really happening. You're going to be a father." It was a good thing pregnancies lasted nine months, because he was going to need some time to wrap his around the concept of Yuri as a father.

"Yeah," Yuri said, not looking at him.

"Are you prepared?"

Yuri hesitated, then sighed. In a rare moment of truthfulness, he said, "Honestly, Flynn? I haven't been this terrified since confronting the Adephagos. But it's going to be ok."

"If you ever need any help…"

"Yeah. I know." He looked over with a small smile. "Maybe one day you'll be uncle to someone who's actually related to you."

"Unlikely, since I don't have any blood siblings." He stood up. They should get back to Estelle's place before she started to worry.


	10. Boys' Day Out

**Chapter Ten: Boys' Day Out**

Rita was late. Estelle sat at the table with her chin in her hands, trying not to be too upset. Rita was probably busy with work, that's all. It wasn't really a big deal, just lunch. Even though Rita was _always_ busy during lunch. Even though she always ate lunch one-handed in her lab in order to keep working. Even though she had _promised_ she would be home today.

She had been very clear when she left this morning. Estelle had been complaining for ages that Rita spent too much time at work, so Rita had given in and promised she'd come home for an entire hour at lunch today. Estelle had carefully prepared delicious Monte Cristo sandwiches, making sure they were just right and finished exactly at noon, when Rita was supposed to show up. Now it was almost 12:20, and they were getting cold.

She scooted her chair over to Oliver's highchair. "We might as well get you fed, Oliver." She sighed and picked up a spoon. "Looks like Mom isn't coming." She held a spoonful of mushed yams at his mouth. "Are you going to eat today?"

He turned his head away in protest.

Estelle frowned. "Come on, Oliver, you like yams. They're yummy." She put the spoon to her lips and ate a small amount. "Mmmm," she said, putting it back to his face. "Yummy-yummy. Om nom nom." She flapped her lips, trying to encourage Oliver to open his.

The door opened and Estelle looked up to see Rita walk in. Rita crossed the room and fell into her chair in exhaustion. "Whew. Sorry I'm a bit late. I just discovered that sodium does something really cool when you add chlorine gas to-"

"You're twenty minutes late, Rita," Estelle said. She put the spoon back in the bowl of yams. Oliver wasn't eating anyway. "Our lunch is cold."

Rita looked over at Estelle's plate. "You could have eaten. I wasn't stopping you. No reason for you to have a cold lunch."

"We were going to eat lunch together!" Estelle said. "I was waiting for you."

"Yeah, well that was your choice! I couldn't go in the middle of an experiment."

"You shouldn't have started an experiment when you knew you had somewhere to be. You _promised_, Rita."

Rita frowned and crossed her arms. She clearly felt guilty about hurting Estelle's feelings, but wasn't ready to admit complete fault just yet. "It was important. I'll make it tomorrow, ok?"

"You always say that, but things always come up," Estelle said. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in a mirror of Rita. "You need to stop eating at work. You'll make yourself sick again."

"That was one time," Rita said. "It's not my fault someone didn't clean the table properly and I got some chemicals on my sandwich."

Estelle glared at Rita as angrily as she could. She didn't like fighting with Rita, but this was serious. Rita had thrown up for days after that incident, and Estelle was just glad it hadn't been worse. "Rita, I'm serious. You need to eat properly, and that means sitting down for a normal, safe lunch. I don't want you to get hurt."

Rita turned her head aside sulkily. "You shouldn't worry about me. I can take care of myself. You've got enough work taking care of Oliver all day."

Estelle's angry resolve softened. "Of course I worry about you, Rita. If anything were to happen to you, I don't know what I'd do."

"W-well, I don't want anything to happen to you either."

Estelle was about to say something when the front door slammed open and a man appeared in the doorway. Estelle shouted and twisted around in her chair in surprise. She instinctively threw her arm in front of Oliver, but then relaxed when she saw who the intruder was. She sighed. "What are you doing here, Raven?"

"What, aren't ya happy ta see me?" He closed the door and strode across the room.

"You can't just burst in like that!" Rita said, slamming her fist on the table. "At least knock!"

"And miss the possibility of walkin' in on some hot girl-on-girl action?"

Rita's frustration turned to anger, and she started charging up magic.

"Rita!" Estelle shouted. "No Fireballs in the house! We've talked about this."

Rita scowled, but let the magic fade away. She glared at Raven. "Just shut up, you old creep."

"How did you get in, Raven?" Estelle asked as Raven sat down at the table. "The guards don't let visitors just waltz in."

"Oh, you know, I just gave them the ol' 'atten-_shun_' routine. Gets them every time." He leaned back in the chair with his legs stretched out and his arms crossed. "I just happened ta be in town on guild business, and thought I'd drop by. So, how are ya two ladies doin'? Holdin' up alright?"

"We're fine," Estelle said with a smile. Her argument with Rita was pushed aside for now. "Although, _somebody_," she looked pointedly at Oliver, "won't eat his yams."

Raven leaned over the table and sniffed. "Aw, you're givin' the poor kid mushed yams? No wonder he's not eating. Ya know what he needs? A day out."

"Uh… what do you mean?" Estelle asked.

"I hardly ever get ta see the kid. Let me take him out. We'll go out for a walk, have a nice lunch… it'll be great!"

Estelle frowned. "I don't know…" It wasn't that she didn't entirely trust Raven to be responsible with her child, it was just that there were random people on the street she thought were more responsible.

"Aw, pleeeease?" Raven said. "It'll give ya ladies an afternoon alone together, and give me a chance to bond with the kid. You know Yuri and Judith are always goin' on and on about him whenever they get back from Zaphias, and the Old Man's getting' jealous!"

Rita glared at him suspiciously. Estelle knew what she meant. Gushing about Oliver didn't sound like something Yuri or Judith would do. She wondered if Raven had some kind of ulterior motive for wanting to take Oliver out.

"That's not a good idea," Rita said. "Remember what happened the last time one of our friends tried to take Oliver out? Yuri nearly spent the evening in jail."

"They'll let me," Raven said. "All the knights know me. Come on, don't ya girls want an afternoon ta your selves? I just want ta spend some time with the kid."

"Well…" Estelle glanced to Rita. It _would_ be nice to have an afternoon off, and if Rita agreed to stay with her for the afternoon to make up for being late for lunch, they could have some much-missed alone time. "I'd feel more comfortable if Flynn went with you. We'd know for sure the knights won't interfere, and Flynn will take good care of Oliver."

"Ya don't trust me?" Raven said.

"No," Rita said. "And with good reason."

"Alright, alright," Raven said. "We can bring the ol' commandant. What do ya say? I can take him?"

"I guess it's alright," Estelle said.

Fifteen minutes later, Flynn stood in their apartment with his arms crossed. "I suppose I can go," he said. "I got most of the important work done this morning."

"Alright!" Raven said, throwing an arm around Flynn's shoulders. "We're gonna have a great time, huh?"

Flynn's smile was strained. "I'm sure."

Rita settled Oliver into his stroller. She kissed him on the forehead and said, "You have fun with Uncle Flynn and Raven, alright?"

"He shouldn't be any problem," Estelle said. "If he starts getting fussy, just come back."

"Ah, I'm sure we can handle him," Raven said. "Don't worry, ladies, your kid is in safe hands with ol' Raven." He took control of the stroller and steered it out into the hallway.

Estelle gave him a nervous look, and grabbed Flynn's arm as he was about to follow him out. "Flynn…"

He gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll look after him, Lady Estellise. Don't worry."

"Thanks, Flynn."

Flynn left to catch up with Raven and Oliver, leaving Rita and Estelle alone. "That was sure unexpected," Rita said, walking over to Estelle.

"Yes, but I think it will be nice for Oliver to go for a walk outside the castle. It's good for him to see more of the world."

"Yeah, and even if I don't trust Raven, Flynn will keep things under control."

"You're not going back to work now, are you?" Estelle said, looking to Rita. She saw a guilty look on Rita's face as her eyes darted to the door for a millisecond.

"Well…"

"Rita," Estelle said warningly.

Rita sighed. "I suppose not. We've got a rare chance when Oliver is out of the house, so I suppose I should make it up to you for being late." She wrapped her arms around Estelle's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. "I really am sorry for being late, you know."

"It's ok," Estelle said, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and resting her cheek on the side of Rita's head. "I know your work is really important to you. I'm so lucky to have such a genius partner."

"No, I'm lucky to have someone so understanding and such a good mom to Oliver."

"What should we do now that we have some free time?"

Rita pulled back a bit and glanced meaningfully at the door to the bedroom. "I have some ideas…"

* * *

The walked down the streets of the Royal Quarter. Raven was pushing an empty stroller, because just after they left the castle, Oliver got bored of sitting in his stroller and wanted to walk.

"I hope you're not pressed for time, Captain Schwa- I mean, Mister Raven." After all these years, Flynn still couldn't get used to calling Captain Schwann Raven. The instinct to salute and be respectful to all the knight captains had been too firmly drilled into him as a rookie.

"Not particularly," Raven said.

They stood next to a planter, waiting for Oliver to be done inspecting a flower. This was the third planter box they'd stopped at, and Oliver insisted on investigating every one. He certainly had already grasped the concept of stopping to smell the roses. They had been out for nearly half an hour now, and the steps of the castle were still visible down the street. Finished with the flower, Oliver turned and started walking down the street without waiting to make sure Raven and Flynn were following. Luckily, his steps were still slow and uncertain so it didn't take much to overcome him.

"Let's get outta the Royal Quarter," Raven said when they passed the stairs to the Public Quarter. "This place is boring."

"Alright," Flynn said. He knelt down and picked Oliver up before the boy could run off to investigate the next planter box. He wasn't sure if Oliver was able to handle walking down stairs yet, but out in public probably wasn't the best place to find out.

"Down!" Oliver said, squirming his arms.

"I'll put you down when we go downstairs," he said, walking down the steps. Raven carried the stroller, awkwardly wheeling it down the stairs.

Oliver flailed his arms and legs around, not pleased with being carried on his walk. He landed a pretty solid kick to Flynn's stomach, and Flynn regretted taking his armour off.

At the base of the stairs, Flynn put him back on the ground and he immediately made a beeline for a flower pot in front of someone's store. He grabbed at the flower as Flynn rushed over. "No, Oliver," he said, pulling him back. "Those flowers belong to someone. You can't pick them."

He took Oliver's hand and walked him back over to Raven and the stroller. "I have an idea," Raven said. "Estelle said he wasn't eating lunch, so why don't we take him out for lunch? I'm sure we can find him something at a restaurant!"

Flynn gave him a sceptical look. "I wouldn't think so. He's a pretty picky eater."

"Come on, we might as well try," Raven said. "Besides, I'm pretty hungry myself."

Flynn eyed his enthusiastic face, wondering why he was so determined about this. "Capt- Raven, do you have some ulterior motive for wanting to take him to a restaurant?"

"Only that there are pretty waitresses. And ya know, ladies just _love_ a man with a baby!"

Flynn sighed. "Is that what this is about?" They started walking again, Flynn keeping hold of Oliver's hand to make she he didn't wander off. The streets of the Public Quarter were busier than those around the castle; he didn't want to lose him.

"I refuse ta believe you haven't done this yourself, Commandant," Raven said. He put on a big grin and said, "I'm jealous! Ya live so close ta Estelle and Rita, ya can borrow him anytime ya want and use him to help pick up chicks!"

"I really don't do that," Flynn said. Sometimes it was hard to believe that this rough, irresponsible, and wild man was the same Captain Schwann who had commanded so much respect across the knights.

"Yer missin' out on a golden opportunity, y'know," Raven said. "Kid's not gonna be small and cute forever."

"Do you honestly believe women are so easily manipulated? Having a baby under your arm isn't going to hypnotize women into your bed."

"Oh ye of little faith! Watch me. C'mere, Oliver." He crouched down and snatched Oliver up. To Flynn he said, "Watch and learn, Commandant."

Flynn crossed his arms and watched Raven cross the street to where a young woman was busy sweeping the front step of her shop. Raven walked up to her and put on an innocent smile, while Oliver looked around in confusion, wondering why he'd suddenly been picked up again.

"Excuse me, miss," Raven said in a voice so smoothly sweet it would be honey jealous. "We've just come ta visit the capital and I'm afraid little Oliver and I have gotten a bit lost. Do you think you could…" he leaned in slightly, "point the way to the nearest inn?"

The woman paused in her sweeping and looked at them with a smile. "Oh, of course! There's an inn a few blocks away."

"Thanks so much, sweetheart," Raven said.

"Wan' go down," Oliver said, squirming in Raven's arms.

"Sh," Raven said, tightening his grip.

"Aw, that's so sweet," the woman said. "What an adorable baby."

"Why thank you," Raven said with a huge smile.

"Is he your grandson?"

Raven's smile frozen in place. "Er… no."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed." She smiled innocently and said, "The inn down the street will be perfect for you. They provide cribs for babies and I think you can get a senior discount."

"Th-thank you…"

The woman returned to sweeping and Raven trudged back to Flynn, who was having trouble keeping a smile off his face. "That seemed to work out for you," he said.

Raven put Oliver back down on the ground and Flynn grabbed his hand. "I swear that worked better when I was younger."

"Perhaps that will teach you that Oliver isn't here as a tool for getting dates."

"I'm sure it'd work for _you_, oh fancy commandant," he said.

"No," Flynn said. They passed a bakery but had to stop so Oliver could admire the colourful cakes. "I'm not doing that."

"Oh, I see, it's because yer already so smooth with the ladies ya don't need the extra help."

"Uh… not quite." Flynn had never quite mastered the art of talking to girls. When they were teenagers, Yuri had taken to shoving him in front of cute girls and forcing him to talk, but it inevitably ended in stammers and blushing and running away. He'd take difficult negotiations with angry enemy leaders over a conversation with a pretty girl any day.

"Oh-ho, I see!" Raven nudged Flynn with his elbow. "Ya don't need to try 'cause you've already got yerself a piece of skirt, eh?"

"That's not it, either!" He tugged Oliver's hand, encouraging him to move alone.

"No? Well, why not?"

"What do you mean, why not?" They turned a corner. Flynn was planning to loop the block and then head back toward the castle, because Oliver already seemed to be getting tired and he did still have some work to do today.

"Look at ya! Young, handsome, rich, powerful - the ladies must be all over ya!"

Flynn flushed a bit. "I don't have time to pursue a relationship. My work is far too time-consuming."

"Don't give me that," Raven said. "Ya should stop spendin' so much time at work. Live a little! There must be _some_ girl ya can get. What about that Sodia chick? Is she still hangin' around all the time?"

"My relationship with Sodia is purely professional," Flynn said quickly.

"So she is! I tell ya, I'd grab that while ya can. If she's anything like she was when we first met, she's gaga over you."

"What are you talking about?" Flynn said, looking at him in alarm.

"I'm talking about," he clasped his hands over his chest and changed his voice to a falsetto, "Oh, Captain Flynn, ohhhh!"

Flynn's blush deepened. "You're deliberately misinterpreting this. Sodia and I are co-workers, nothing more."

"If ya say so. All I'm sayin' is that if yer lookin' ta get some, she's right there."

"Stop," Flynn said. "Think about what kind of example you're setting for Oliver."

"With his moms, I don't think we have ta worry about him growin' up not respectin' ladies."

Oliver stumbled a bit and nearly fell. He whined a bit and tugged on Flynn's hand. "Tired."

"Do you want to ride in the stroller now?"

He nodded, so Flynn picked him up and put him back in. "Why don't we head back to the castle? It's probably almost time for his nap."

"Yeah, might as well," Raven said. "Doesn't seem like he's gonna help me score with the ladies after all."

They rounded the next corner, and Flynn said, "I meant to ask, how are Yuri and Judith doing?"

"Oh, they're doin' great," Raven said. "You gotta come visit and see Judith – wowza!"

"Er…"

"Ya know how ladies' breasts get bigger when they're pregnant? Ohhh man, she is a gift to mankind."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "I meant how are they holding up, have they got things in order, that sort of thing."

"Oh, ya mean the borin' stuff. Yeah, Yuri's been busy cleanin' out the storage room to make space for the kid, and they argued for a bit over what colour to paint it."

"You mean, pink or blue?" Flynn asked.

"No, I mean Yuri wanted to paint it bright red because he thought it would be cool and Judith wanted to paint it blue because that's her favourite colour. Eventually they compromised and used both."

"You mean they alternated walls between blue and red?' He tried to picture a baby's nursery with walls of alternating bright red and blue, and his head hurt just picturing it.

"No, they took both colours and poured them into a bucket and used both."

Flynn knew enough about basic colour theory to understand where this was going. "So… they ended up with purple walls?"

"That's right. Kind of an uneven purple, too."

Flynn couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. Yuri _would_ do that. "I guess they'd better hope for a girl now."

"I don't think either of them really care about that. Also, Judith is officially sittin' out any guild mission that involves action. She's pretty bored, I think."

"That's good to hear," Flynn said, nodding. Honestly, he wouldn't put it past Judith to unthinkingly rush into battle while pregnant.

"The head of the carpenter guild built them a crib as thanks for helpin' out at Aurnion a few months ago, which I'm sure you'll be happy to hear."

Flynn glanced over at him. "Me? Why?"

"I heard ya got into a bit of trouble the last time ya tried to build a crib."

Flynn scowled. "Yuri told you about that, did he?"

"I got the story, yeah."

"I'm sure he left out the part where it was his fault."

Raven laughed a bit. "From what I understand, all four of ya contributed to the mess."

They rounded another corner, bringing them back to the road they'd started on. Oliver was falling asleep in his stroller, so they aimed for the castle to deliver him to his moms. Maybe when he woke up, he would be able to be convinced to try some yams.

* * *

Estelle seemed to have two moods whenever Rita came home from working; either clingy due to loneliness and boredom, or annoyed that she was late. Today, about five months after Oliver's outing with Raven, she walked through the door and saw nobody, not even Oliver, who was usually on the floor with some toy or another. Lately Estelle had been reading him storybooks in all of her free time, now that she read he should be learning words.

"Hey Estelle, you here?" There wasn't any point worrying if she was just out of sight, there were other rooms in the suite.

"We're in the study!" She sounded happy about something, but it was rare for her to be in there.

"What are you doing in here?" Rita turned the corner into it to see what she was doing that was so important she was in here. Estelle was never in the study, they only ever used it for her own work-related notes.

"Look what we did!" She held up a stack of papers, the first of which was mostly scribbles from the short distance. There were crayons all over the floor and desk, and she noticed Oliver in the middle of room with a messy pad of paper, surrounded by them.

"Oliver learned how to draw? That's impressive." The figure on the paper Estelle was holding looked like two people, but she couldn't tell what was between them. A box or a table, perhaps. "His motor skills shouldn't be this well-developed yet."

Estelle looked like her heart had shattered and fallen through the floor. "Rita…I drew that." Rita looked between the random lines on Oliver's paper, and the almost-random lines on Estelle's paper. It was an honest mistake, surely anybody Estelle's age would stop drawing the sun with spiky rays, or the grass flat on the bottom of the page

"I was looking at Oliver drawing over there. He's growing up fast, huh?" She tried to diffuse the situation before Estelle got too upset about it.

"I suppose…." She didn't sound like she believed it.

"What did you draw, anyways?" A change of topic.

"I was making a story book. For Oliver." She pointed at the paper as she addressed each thing. "This is a baby, and these are his moms. All of the children's books have a mom and a dad, and I didn't want him to feel left out."

That answer was so undeniably Estelle she couldn't help but smile. It didn't seem like a big deal, but she thought of everything. "What's it about?" She took the stack of pages and flipped through, seeing nothing but different versions of the same cover.

"I haven't decided yet, but I want to do this for him." She reached out and took the pages back, as if embarrassed to have them seen. "I can't take it to a publisher, so I have to draw it myself, but…."

"I don't think he'll care either way." Oliver looked more interested in smashing the crayon into the carpet.

"But I want it to look professional," Estelle insisted. "Like a real storybook."

"You just need practice." She knelt down across from Oliver to look at what he was drawing. Literal scribbles, he was only pressing down on the page and moving the crayon with his whole body. He looked up and smiled when he saw her next to him.

"Hi." He dropped his crayon to walk across his paper and throw his arms around her neck. "Dart."

Estelle looked over to them while she was putting her paper in order. "No, Oliver, it's draw. Draaaaw."

"Dart." He pointed at the paper, convinced that he was imitating her.

"Have you fed him yet?" He was easily distracted and rarely asked to be fed, when occupied.

"I tried." Estelle shook her head, slumping over the back of the chair. "He just won't eat anything, can you try? He's more responsive to you." It must have been serious if she directly said that; Estelle could be a little jealous of the attention he wasn't giving her.

Rita looked at Oliver, asking, "You hungry?"

"Yes." He held his hands over his stomach, having learned Estelle's wild hand motions as much as the words themselves.

"He has a plate of chicken and rice on the kitchen counter," Estelle offered.

"No rice!" Oliver shook his head and latched back onto Rita as if his dinner was going to eat him.

"Yes rice." She situated to pick him up and carry him into his high chair. He struggled the whole way, mouth clamped shut.

"I'm getting really worried about him." Estelle watched him expectantly as Rita held a forkful of rice up to his face.

"No!" He glared at her stubbornly, hand over his mouth.

"What about the chicken?" She tore a piece off and held it up, but he only shook his head and protested through his hand.

"He hasn't eaten in almost two days." Estelle fiddled with her clothing nervously. "It can't be healthy, he's just going to get sick."

"Why didn't you tell me he wasn't eating? Just give me five minutes and I can have him fed." She should have been mad at Estelle for keep quiet about it, but she was too worried for Oliver if he was starving himself.

"No, don't force him, you might hurt him."

"This is any better?"

Estelle paused, settling an internal debate. "I have one more idea. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"

"Where are you going?" She turned back to hold Oliver up, who had tried to squirm out through the bottom of his chair.

"Just try and get him to eat, I won't be long." She left before Rita could ask any more questions.

"Honestly…. Okay, we're going to surprise her with an empty plate when she comes back." Oliver shook his head. "What do you want?"

"Not want."

"Yes want." She stared him down.

"_Not _want." This was getting ridiculous. She had debated theories with nearly every mage in the world, and here she was losing an argument with a toddler.

"I can make you carrots instead."

"No carrots."

"I think we have potatoes."

"No 'datoes."

"I could make you a sandwich."

"No." He hadn't even heard of sandwiches to her knowledge, and was just being stubborn for the sake of it.

"Dammit just eat your chicken." They were only frustrating each other the more time they spent on this topic, which only agitated Rita further because she was letting a two-year-old get to her.

"No!" He kicked and threatened to throw a fit if she didn't let him free.

"I'll find something different, alright? How about that, something I don't have to cook so

it'll taste good no matter what." Although she knew the problem wasn't her cooking, he was just being annoying because Estelle let him get away with it.

"Want down." He had quieted down at least, curious about the words that he didn't understand. Rita picked up an overripe peach and a small knife from the kitchen, cutting a small slice out of it. They hadn't tried him on most fruit yet, since it was too solid, but now was a good a time as any. She put the piece into her mouth, showing him that it probably tasted much better than cold chicken.

Oliver watched the fruit with wide eyes, fascinated by the bright color of the unfamiliar food. He took the small piece he was offered and ate it without complaint.

Rita handed him another piece, relieved that he was finally accepting something, but he pushed her hand away. "Come on, eat it, you liked it."

"No." He turned his head away from her.

"Stop being so stubborn about it." This was worrying, because he was refusing food for the sake of a game

"No!" She was considering just holding him down to feed him forcefully when Estelle came back. Flynn walked in behind her.

"Your plan is Flynn?"

Estelle grabbed his wrist and practically dragged him into the kitchen; he looked upset about something, perhaps she interrupted his work.

"I would appreciate if you dropped all comments about my cooking, Miss Mordio." He stood in the middle of the kitchen, arms crossed. "Lady Estellise already explained everything."

Estelle stood next to him with a guilty expression. "I was just worried about Oliver. He didn't fight when you fed him…." It sounded like Estelle had already explained to Flynn that his cooking tasted like the street.

"I understand." Flynn hardly sounded understanding, but he stuck his head around to speak to Oliver. "What do you want to eat?"

"Shut up." Estelle dropped the pot she pulled out for Flynn to use, and he only stared at Oliver, dumbstruck. Rita threw her hand over her mouth, far more amused than the other two.

"What did I tell you about talking like that in front of him?" Estelle left the kitchen to stand in front of Oliver.

"He'll learn eventually, I don't see the big deal." She shrugged, taking a chair next to him to let Estelle through.

"We'll talk later." She sounded irritated, but turned to Oliver. "You can't speak like that, okay? That's not nice, tell Uncle Flynn you're sorry."

Oliver grinned widely, having found a new button to push for instant fun. "Shut up."

Estelle stared at him, not even sure of how to react. "Rita, this is your fault, you handle it." She redirected her frustration.

"I don't see the problem. Worry more about him eating." It was a cheap shot, Estelle cared about Oliver and his stubbornness could prove life threatening. But it was just a couple words and she was putting more concern into that than his eating habits.

"I suppose…." She slumped over and tried one last time to get him to eat a spoonful of the rice. "Flynn, please tell me you're cooking in there."

"Of course, Lady Estellise. Is there anything he particularly dislikes?" He poured a cup of uncooked oatmeal into the pot.

"Everything, as far as we can tell," Estelle told him. Rita was starting to question Estelle's judgment in letting Flynn in their kitchen; forcing him would just be so much easier.

"I'll go as quickly as I can, then." He looked through their pantry, taking out a potato and a handful of grapes to mix into the same pot. "This shouldn't take long, and it'll be good for him.

"I can't say I've ever made proper baby food before, it's usually everything on a plate mashed together, right?"

Estelle gave Flynn a worried glance before looking back to Rita. Definitely a worse option than force-feeding him. She wasn't sure what Flynn was doing in there, but she'd worked with chemicals that smelled less lethal. It was a last resort for a reason, but this couldn't be healthy.

He left the kitchen with a plate of mush speckled with various bright colors. She wasn't sure what was in it, and was almost afraid to ask, but Oliver stared at it as he walked up to him. "I've heard babies are responsive to bright colors, so I thought this might make it look better."

"Doesn't matter, just make him eat it," Rita said, a hand over her nose.

Flynn shot her an irritated look, but held a spoonful up to Oliver. "Hey buddy, you want to eat?"

"Shut up." He grinned and shook his head, but stared intently at the plate. Estelle looked like she had something to say, but kept herself quiet.

"Don't talk like that, you'll upset your mothers." Flynn held the spoon closer to his face and took a small bite off the spoon. Rita nearly gagged watching him actually put it in his mouth.

"You want to try some, too?"

Oliver considered for barely a moment before opening his mouth wordlessly. He took the bite and swallowed it quickly, mouth open expectantly the instant it was swallowed. "It looks like someone is hungry," Flynn smiled.

"Hungry." He tried to take the spoon from Flynn, trying to get him to feed him faster.

"Flynn thank you!" Estelle just about tackled him to the ground as she hugged him. "Thanks so much for your help!"

"Ah, no problem, Lady Estellise." He awkwardly leaned around her to put the spoon back in Oliver's mouth. "You should have asked for help sooner."

"Could you tell us what it is, so we could make it again?" Estelle asked him.

"Of course. Everything is boiled together so it's easy to cook and finishes quickly. I started with oatmeal, but that's a boring color, so I added potatoes so that everything would mix with it. There are some grapes, I sliced a beet thinly, added a little bit of red onion, and took it off when everything was soft." He looked proud as he fed Oliver another bite.

"And you just fed that to our son?" Rita looked skeptically at the plate, half of its contents already gone and inside his stomach.

"If you have a problem with it, you can cook for him yourself next time," Flynn said bitterly. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with this."

"No it's fine," Estelle cut in. "We really appreciate you coming down here."

"It's no problem. I don't mind coming down here to see him when I'm not working."

Flynn's undeniable soft spot for Oliver kept his spirits up.

"I'm sure he'd love that," Estelle said.

"Don't know what's wrong with him," Rita shrugged. "But yeah, thanks Flynn. I was expecting to have to fight with him more."

"You just have to make what he likes." Flynn smiled as he gave him the last spoonful.

"There you go, all done?"

"Want more." Oliver held his hand over his stomach and reached for the spoon.

"That's quite the appetite you have." He put the bowl back on the table behind him and turned to Estelle. "If you'd like, I could make him something else and show you how."

"That would be a great help." She stood and walked into the kitchen with him. "There's already some chicken pulled out, if you could use that?"

Rita took Oliver out of his chair and put him onto the floor while they cooked. "Let's get out of here and leave them alone." In truth, she didn't want to be anywhere near the kitchen while Flynn was in there, and took the time to pity Estelle for being in the center of that chaos.

"Carrots?" At least he was showing interest in food again. "You should finish that peach." If it really had been a few days like Estelle said, sharing some fruit shouldn't spoil his appetite.

"Peach?" He followed her into the living room and pulled himself up onto the couch. She cut him a small piece again, which he took and ate happily. Flynn's cooking thankfully broke his stubborn streak.

"Here you go, how's that?" He held out his hand for another. "Why couldn't you eat like this earlier?" Oliver only stared at her as he chewed, having trouble grinning at the same time. She took a piece for herself before giving him another. "You'd better keep this up when Flynn leaves."

There was a knock at the door and then Yuri let himself in. Before he could announce that he was there, he threw a hand up to pinch his nose shut. "What smells like Flynn's cooking?"

"That would be my cooking, Yuri," Flynn said from the kitchen. He glared at him over his shoulder.

"I'd know that smell anywhere, damn." Oliver had crawled down off the couch to latch onto Yuri's leg and chatter at him. He leaned down to ruffle his hair.

"What are you doing here?" Rita asked. "I didn't know you were in Zaphias. And hey, it's rude to just let yourself in, you know!"

Yuri ignored her last comment and said, "Just passing through on my way back to Dahngrest, figured I'd stop by."

"Is Judith here, too?" Estelle asked.

"Nah, I was fighting some monsters south of here with some other Brave Vesperia guildsmen. Judy stayed at home with Repede, since she can't fight anyway. More importantly, why is Flynn cooking? You guys have a death wish or something?"

"Flynn's cooking for Oliver," Estelle explained.

"You're gonna make the kid eat that?"

"Already has," Flynn smirked. "No complaints; he actually appreciates it."

"He wouldn't eat anything," Estelle said. "He really likes Flynn's cooking."

"What?" Yuri looked up from Oliver, shocked. "No way anybody actually ate that. He's just not being given anything he wants."

"We've tried him on everything, Yuri," Estelle said. "He won't eat when we or any of the kitchen staff cook for him anymore."

"Of course he won't, it's all too fancy for the kid." Yuri strode into the kitchen past Flynn and took an empty pan off the counter.

"Yuri this isn't necessary." Flynn tried to elbow him out of the way.

"How about both of you cook, and see what he likes best," Rita suggested, leaving the couch to hold Oliver back. Everybody was congregated in the kitchen, and he had tried to follow them.

"Do we really need to do that?" Estelle asked, standing far behind the two before she was caught in the crossfire.

"Can it hurt?" She trusted Yuri more anyways, and if there was a chance Flynn wouldn't have to be in the kitchen regularly, she would take it. The situation couldn't get any worse than Flynn teaching Estelle to cook. "If we don't let them settle it here, they'll find somewhere else to do it."

"I guess there is no stopping them." Yuri had already forced his way around Flynn and took up half the stove. "I'm going to work on that storybook, can you help?"

"I can sit with you, that's more your thing." She picked up Oliver as he tried to run past them into the kitchen.

"But you draw so much better, can you at least show me?" Estelle begged. She looked at her with wide eyes almost tearing up as she tilted her head slightly to the side.

It felt ridiculous being given doe eyes when she had to look up to see them, but she couldn't just say no. "I can give you some advice and that's it."

"Great, I'll get his crayons!" Giving in to a sad face would be less embarrassing if she wouldn't immediately become perky afterwards. Not that supervising Flynn and Yuri was an appealing option.

"You want to go draw more?" She sat Oliver on the floor while Estelle ran to the study.

"Paper?" He looked at her, eyebrows pushed together in confusion.

"That's right, you draw on paper. Who knew conversations with a toddler could be so enlightening?" He only looked at her blankly, smiling when he decided he didn't have anything to say.

Estelle came back, leaving a colorful notepad and a handful of crayons on the floor in front of him. "I brought a pencil, would that work better?"

"Better than crayons." Rita moved to the couch and laid out a blank sheet of paper. "I won't be much help, I only draw diagrams."

Estelle must have ignored that she didn't know what she was doing and put the tip of the pencil to the surface of the paper. "How do I start?"

"I don't know, you just make shapes until it's done." She shrugged, gesturing towards the paper. "Hold the pencil lightly and just do it."

"Like this?" She loosened her tight grip on the pencil, but still seemed determined to draw the entirely body perfectly in one line.

"No, more like this." She leaned in and grabbed the pencil, closing her hand around the back of Estelle's to guide it. "You have to let the pencil leave the page."

"I don't really get it." Even though her hand was moving across the page, it was just being led. "You're good at this, you should do it."

"I don't have time to draw children's books, this was your choice." She wasn't opposed to spending time or effort on Oliver, but it was a book, something he had countless of already. There were more important things to work on than colorful, toddler-friendly pictures.

"But he'll love it," she argued, dropping the pencil. "It's something from both of us that he'll grow up with." She leaned her head on Rita's shoulder to look up at her.

"He's growing up with us already." Estelle was getting dangerous; she knew there was no time for it, but she didn't want to say no.

"Hah, finished first!" Yuri rushed out of the kitchen with a plate in hand, effectively breaking attention from Estelle's practiced puppy dog eyes.

"It's not a race, Yuri, I'm still putting it on the plate." Flynn was still in the kitchen, noisily moving pans around.

"Doesn't matter, he tries mine first. You hungry, Oliver?" He put the plate on his high chair table, cutting the chicken open to let it cool off.

"Yeah." Oliver stood to walk himself to Yuri, who lifted him into his high chair.

"What do you think, Oliver?" Estelle asked as Yuri offered him a piece of chicken. He took it, but made a confused face as he swallowed.

"It's good, right?" Yuri asked, holding up another piece.

"No." He pushed his hand away.

"Huh." Yuri tasted the chicken for himself. "Tastes great, he's probably just full."

"What's in it? Maybe he doesn't like one of the ingredients," Rita suggested.

"Tomato, garlic, mushrooms. Basic stuff." There wasn't anything Oliver hadn't eaten before.

"Let's see, then." Flynn left the kitchen, his plate arranged almost too intricately for someone Oliver's age. It was a beautiful purple color, but that wasn't a color that chicken should ever be. "My dish also contains garlic and mushrooms."

"What else is in that?" Yuri stood between Flynn and Oliver as he stared at the plate.

"It's a sauce made with blackberries and cucumber."

"How creative," Estelle said. It was the best compliment anyone in the room could honestly give.

"Let's see how Oliver likes it." He pushed Yuri's plate of legitimate food out of the way to let him try.

Oliver took it reluctantly, hesitant after eating Yuri's. His eyes opened wider and he tried to take the fork to feed himself. Flynn turned to smirk at Yuri, standing up straighter as he officially claimed victory.

"There's something wrong with your kid," Yuri said.

"Just accept that you lost, Yuri." Flynn cut it into small pieces so that Oliver could pick it up without waiting for Flynn to hand it to him. "I'd be happy to explain the process, or even visit to cook for him when I'm available."

Rita groaned behind her hand, wishing that Yuri could have coerced him into eating like a normal human. It was a peaceful resolution that was definitely not preferred. As long as Oliver was going to pick up more healthy eating habits, if Flynn's food could even be called that. Perhaps "healthy" didn't have to be synonymous with "edible."

"So," Flynn turned to Yuri, "why are you really here?"

"I told you, I'm just passing through."

"I doubt you came all the way here to challenge me to a cooking contest. Which you just lost."

Yuri sighed. "I need some help. Judy's due in a just a few weeks."

"Oh, that's right!" Estelle cut in, worried that something might have happened if he came to them with a problem. "Is everything going all right?"

"Yeah, perfectly healthy, it's nothing like that." He took a seat at the table to eat the chicken Oliver refused before it got cold. "But I need a name. We agreed that she'd name it if it's a girl, and I have to pick the boy name. She's picked her name already, but I have no idea. Could you guys help me think of a name?"

"It's your child, Yuri," Flynn said, leaving Oliver to his own devices. "This is your responsibility."

"It's just the name, but he'll have it for his whole life." Yuri glared at him. "I just want some advice."

"Have you tried asking Karol?" Rita hadn't gotten tired of hearing just what he came up with.

Yuri chuckled a bit. "Do you remember the terrible name suggestions he used to come up with?"

"Yes," Rita said, grinning.

"He hasn't gotten better."

"Imagine growing up as Ultra-Sobbing Super Baby," Rita said sarcastically.

"Actually," Yuri said, "he suggested 'Tiger Festival'."

"That is not a name," Rita said.

"Yeah. That's why I'm here asking you guys instead."

"Did you ask Raven?" Estelle asked. "What did he suggest?"

"'Raven Lowell'."

Rita pressed her palm into her forehead while Flynn sighed. Estelle did her best to not agree that Raven's name was terrible. "That sounds like him."

"So I need some actual help. What do people name kids?"

Estelle didn't wait at all to throw suggestions at him. "Oliver's name came from a book, there are so many great characters. Holden was a young boy dissatisfied with the world around him, and it shows everything through his eyes. Ebenezer was an old man who didn't appreciate the little things in life, and he has to learn to appreciate others. Aslan was the king of a fantasy world, but in a different story, Aslan was a general who fell in love with the general of an opposing army before he was killed."

Yuri obviously had no intention of using any of those names, but he nodded as if thinking it over. "I'll bring it up with Judy. What about you, Flynn?"

Flynn paused thoughtfully before deciding to help Yuri. "I'm familiar with the story of Aslan and Josette, and I agree with Lady Estellise that it would be a good name. He was a strong commander and an excellent strategist, but a fair man." Estelle smiled at him, proud that someone liked her ideas.

"I kinda like the sound of Josette, but that's Judy's territory. What about you, Rita?" That was probably his last resort.

"Don't look at me, I didn't name Oliver." She waved him off.

"What would you do if you had another kid and had to name it right now?" He tried to get an answer out of her.

"Wonder where it came from and ask Estelle to name it." She shrugged. "Ask Judith if you really aren't sure, it's her kid, too."

"I told Judy I would pick the name if it was a boy, that's my responsibility," he told her.

"Then stop acting like it's our responsibility, too, Yuri." Flynn rolled his eyes.

"I just don't want to disappoint her," he said. "I've just never done anything like this before. Repede already came with a name."

"Just pick a name that you like," Estelle said. "It can be anything."

"That's what makes it so difficult." Yuri leaned back and kicked his legs up on an open chair. "There's so many wrong choices."

"You made the decision to get rid of all blastia in the world," Flynn told him, "and you can't just pick a name?"

"That was to prevent the world's destruction, it was an easy choice. But this is a child, he's going to have to live with this forever."

"We won't ever have blastia either, you know," Rita reminded him. Years were spent settling riots and stopping attempts at recreating blastia.

"This isn't a yes or no decision." Yuri leaned over the table. "I don't know how to do this."

"Maybe if you got some practice at being a dad, it'll make your decision easier. Oliver might be hungry again." Flynn nudged him with his elbow.

Yuri grinned. "He'll definitely eat this time."


	11. Father

**Chapter Eleven: Father**

"Hey, Karol," Yuri said, "pass me your water canteen."

"Why?" Karol asked, unclipping it from his belt.

"Because I'm thirsty."

Karol stopped. "What, are you already finished yours?"

"Yes," Yuri said. The hot sun beat down on him, and he was beginning to regret wearing black to the desert.

Karol unscrewed the cap of his canteen and took a swig. "We're almost back to the Fiertia. You should have rationed your water better."

"Come on, Karol, I'm really thirsty."

Yuri made a grab for Karol's canteen, but Karol jumped out of the way and then stood on his tip-toes, holding the canteen high above his head.

"Karol!" Yuri shouted in exasperation, reaching for the canteen. To his great aggravation, Karol's reach was above his head.

Karol laughed. "Ha! Looks like you're too short, Yuri."

Yuri growled in frustration. He was pretty sure he liked Karol a lot more before his growth spurt. Yuri gave up, leaning forward with his hands resting on his knees, letting his hair hang down around his face. "Karol, please, my mouth is so dry."

"Suck it up, Yuri," Karol said. "I'll give you some if you're about to pass out, but you should have rationed yours better."

Raven reached over and slapped Yuri on the back. "Relax, we're almost at the Fiertia. Look, I can see it on the horizon."

Yuri raised his head a bit and saw the top of the mast sticking out over the sand dunes. He sighed in relief; the Sands of Kogorh really weren't his idea of a good time. But, Karol had insisted because some archaeologists from Ruin's Gate needed a ride to some archaeological site out in the desert. Yuri had accepted the job because he figured all they had to do was fly them out and drop them off, but then the archaeologists had thrown a fit about letting Ba'ul land too close to the site, fearing the force of the giant whale and boat landing would pick up too much sand and cover the excavation. So, they'd been forced to land about a mile away, and then hike out to the site with the archaeologists to protect them from monsters on the way.

"Keep up, Yuri," Karol said, marching ahead.

"Yeah," Raven said. "It's just a short walk. Don't go keeling over yet, Old Man."

Yuri shot him a deadly look, but pushed himself onward. Raven was as aggravatingly unperturbed by the desert as always. He wished Judith were here, but they'd left he behind on the ship. As much as they both wanted her to join in the fun of trekking through the desert and slaying monsters, they also both realized that this wasn't a great idea for someone heavily pregnant. Her due date was only two weeks away. Thinking about this reminded him of another aggravation.

"Dammit, I still haven't picked a name," he said.

Karol looked back and said, "Yeah, well that's because you didn't like my suggestions."

"No," Yuri said. "Just… no."

"I'm tellin' ya," Raven said, "you're missin' a golden opportunity ta name the kid after me!"

"Also no," Yuri said. As much as he was hoping for a boy, part of him wanted it to be a girl just so he wouldn't have to worry about the name.

After a few more minutes of walking, the ship proper came into view. It looked kind of odd to see a ship sitting in the middle of the desert, but Yuri was too busy dwelling on the prospect of shade and a cool glass of water to think too much about it. There was sand in his boots and his shirt was soaked in sweat, and he decided that the next time Karol approached him with a job in the desert he'd have to be conveniently too busy.

"Hey, what's that?" Raven said.

Yuri lifted a hand to shade his eyes against the glaring sun and made out a dark shape streaking toward them.

"Is it a monster?" Karol asked.

As it came closer, Yuri relaxed. "Don't worry. It's just Repede." The relaxation didn't last long, because he's specifically told Repede to wait with Judith just in case and to come get him if something went wrong. If Repede was racing toward them, something must be wrong. "Judy's in trouble," he said, all memories of exhaustion wiped away. He started running, cursing the shifting sand that slowed down his steps.

With Karol and Raven right behind him, he cleared the distance to the ship in record time. He wasted no time in scaling the ladder up to the desk, and looked around for any sign of monsters. The ship was silent and still, but he didn't lower his sword just yet. "Repede, where's Judy?"

Repede barked and ran for the door down to the hold. The wood creaked as Yuri pounded down the stairs. "Judy?!" He found her lying on one of the beds with her eyes closed, taking deep breaths as sweat beaded up on her forehead. Yuri ran to her side. "Are you alright?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him with a slight smile. "Oh, hello, Yuri. I don't want to alarm you, but I seem to be going into labour."

Karol and Raven had followed Yuri downstairs. Karol stared at her in shock. "What?!"

"You can't," Yuri said. "It's not supposed to be for two more weeks."

"Tell that to-" she cut off and groaned in pain, tensing up as she was hit by another contraction. Yuri looked around in panic, searching for anything he could do to help her. She took a deep breath and said, "Tell that to the baby."

"What do we do?!" Karol said.

"I don't know!" Yuri replied. He looked back at his friends, hoping one of them would know what to do. "Karol, you know about a lot of stuff! Don't you know anything?"

"I was never in a medical guild, Yuri!"

Repede barked, trying to get them to calm down. It didn't work. Panicking wouldn't help, Yuri thought, but he couldn't get himself to stop. They were in the middle of the desert and none of them knew the first thing about childbirth.

"I – I think we need hot water," Karol said.

Before Karol could protest, Yuri snatched his canteen off his belt. The water was definitely warm from sitting out in the sun for so long. "Ok, what do we do with it?" Yuri asked.

"I have no idea!" Karol threw his arms in the air, his voice shrill with panic. "I just know we need it!"

Yuri looked between the canteen and Judith's pained face. "Is she supposed to drink it?"

"What good would that do?" Karol demanded.

"Don't ask me!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Raven said, raising his voice above their panicked shouting. "Are ya forgetting we have a flying whale? Let's just hop on over ta Mantaic and find a doctor there."

Yuri stared at him, sense sinking in. "Right. Yeah. Let's go to Mantaic." He doubted they had time to fly all the way to Dahngrest or Zaphias, but Mantaic was reasonable. He didn't know if Judith was able to communicate with Ba'ul and clearly ask him to fly them to Mantaic while she was in so much pain, so he said, "Karol, run upstairs and tell Ba'ul to take us to Mantaic."

"Right!" Karol said, sprinting up the steps.

Yuri turned back to Judith, wishing there was something he could do to help her. He grabbed her hand and forced a smile. "Hey, you can't have this baby yet. I still haven't picked out a name."

"Well, I guess we'd better hope for a girl, then."

The boat lurched as Ba'ul took to the air, and Yuri dragged a chair over. Now that they had a plan and were on their way to a doctor, he let himself relax. There really wasn't anything he could do at this point, so there was no use getting worked up about it.

Karol came running back downstairs. "We're on our way!"

"I noticed," Yuri said. He looked over at Raven, who was still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Hey, Old Man, you seem awfully calm."

Raven shrugged. "Well, when you've been around the bush as long as I have, things don't bother ya as much."

"What, you have a lot of experience with childbirth?" Judith's hand tightened around his as her face scrunched up in pain again. Yuri looked down at her worriedly, wondering if an Apple Gel could do anything to help. Probably not.

"Not a lot," Raven said. "There was this one girl, though, and boy, lemme tell ya, I was relieved when the kid turned out ta be a redhead."

"Ok," Karol said, not nearly as calm as Yuri or Raven. "So if you've done this before, what should we do?"

Raven stroked his chin. "Not a lot ta do, ta be honest. Best ta just let nature take its course. Although, I know we need ta make sure she's dilatin' or somethin', so maybe she should take her pants off and I'll check."

Yuri gave him an annoyed look. "I don't think that will be necessary."

"Ya know, this really isn't fair," Raven said. "We went on that whole journey together, and in the end, you got a hot girlfriend, Rita got a hot girlfriend, Estelle also got a hot girlfriend, and even Flynn's still got that hot Sodia chick fawnin' over him. What's ol' Raven left with? Karol?" He gestured at him disapprovingly.

"Hey!" Karol said. "Don't bring me into this." He crossed his arms and added, "Besides, I didn't get a 'hot girlfriend' either."

Judith looked over at him. "What about Nan? She was cute."

Karol blushed and stammered, "D-don't bring her up! That was – I was young, ok?"

"Aww, but you were so cute with your little crush."

"Sh-shut up!" Karol said. "You're supposed to be in labour; stop teasing me!"

"I'm not teasing you," Judith said. "I really do think you were cu- Ah!" She winced and wrapped her hands over her stomach. "Yuri, I think I'd feel better if I got up and walked around."

"Are you sure? Are you allowed to do that?"

Judith sat up, one hand rubbing her back. "I don't know. If the pregnancy police show up, you'll have to fight them off for me."

"Heh, ok." He gave her a hand and helped her stand up. "Let's go get some fresh air. We must be nearly in Mantaic by now." He led her up the stairs, and the hot wind hit him in the face the moment he stepped outside. Ba'ul soared over the desert, going faster than usual. He clearly understood that they were in a rush. On deck, Judith kept her hand on her lower back as she paced around, every now and then taking a deep breath.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Yuri asked, feeling rather useless.

"I don't think so," she said.

Yuri frowned, and walked to the bow of the ship to see if Mantaic was in the distance yet. All he saw was more sand. "You weren't supposed to go into labour on this trip, you know," he said. "We were just going to drop off those archaeologists and then zip back to Dahngrest."

"Gee, I'm so sorry," she said, walking over to stand next to him. "I'll try to be more considerate next time."

Yuri shot her a look. "Whoa, what? Next time? We weren't even going to have one kid and now you're talking about 'next time'?"

"I was joking, Yuri."

"Oh. Right."

She groaned a bit. "This is quite annoying."

"How long has this been going on?"

She waited a few seconds for the worst of the contraction to fade and then said, "About an hour or two."

"That long?" Yuri felt guilty, even though obviously there was no way he could have known what was happening back on the ship. "Man, sorry we left you."

"That's ok. Repede took good care of me. The moment he caught scent of you, he took off running."

Yuri smiled a bit. "He's a good dog."

Judith took a few steps away, pacing around the bow of the ship. She reached her arms up, leaned back, and stretched. "You raised him well. I don't know what you're so worried about with a child."

Yuri put his hand on his hip. "Everyone keeps saying that. Dogs and babies are not the same."

"I think everyone has more confidence in you than you have in yourself."

"They're all over-hyping me. I just don't know what to do with a kid that's too young to understand what I'm saying. It's so much easier dealing with Oliver now that he can talk." He sighed and leaned back on the railing. "Do you think we're just fooling ourselves, Judy? Can you honestly say either of us are parent material?"

"It's a bit late to call it off." She smiled a bit. "It's alright to be scared."

"I'm not-"

"I think all new parents are scared. It's a pretty large change."

"I feel like…" He hesitated, not sure exactly how to put his feelings into words. He typically avoided doing so, because there wasn't a point in weighing down his friends with his personal issues, but this involved Judith too. "For the past nine years, you and I have been… well, partners."

Calling each other 'girlfriend and boyfriend' always sounded rather juvenile to Yuri. Besides, using those words seemed weird because he and Judith had never really talked about exactly what they were. They'd taken off with Ba'ul doing guild missions together, and somewhere along the line they'd started making out to celebrate a successful mission. They'd never bothered to sit down and talk about exactly what they were, they just knew that what they had together worked, and there was a shared understanding that the two of them were a 'thing', even if they weren't sure what to call that thing.

"If we have a kid, then suddenly we're not just partners, we're a family." He paused again. Judy was always telling him not to be so taciturn with his emotions. He didn't really buy into the idea that telling other people your problems could make them better, but since this was about her, too, she deserved to know how he felt. Besides, he'd already started, so he'd better just grit his teeth and get the rest of this out. He let out a deep breath. "And being part of a family is a kind of overwhelming idea because… well, I've never been in one before."

"Oh, Yuri," Judith said, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He held him tight and rested her head against this neck. "Don't be silly. You're already in a family. What do you call Flynn, Estelle, Rita, Karol, and Raven?"

"Usually I call them friends."

"It's deeper than that, and you know it."

Rather than answering her, he changed the topic. He reached his arm up to rub her shoulders. "Hey, aren't I supposed to be the one comforting you?"

"If so, you're certainly not doing a very good job of it. I hope this isn't an indication of second-rate parenting I should be watching out for – _oof_." Her grip around him tightened, reminding Yuri just how strong she actually was.

He pried her arms off before she crushed him. "You alright?"

"No," she said with a grimace. "This isn't pleasant at all." She stepped away from him to resume pacing around the bow. The walking seemed to help. "Anyway, are you sure this anxiety isn't just your midlife crisis now that you're thirty?"

Yuri was a bit taken aback. "I'm not having a midlife crisis!"

"It's understandable. You're having a child, entering a new stage of life, the days of your youth are officially behind you…"

Yuri scowled. "You don't have to say it like that."

She stretched again and added, "I don't think Ba'ul can tolerate carrying anything much heavier from the Fiertia, so I wouldn't look into getting a bigger or faster ship. If you want to paint it bright red, though, I think we could manage."

Yuri decided not to answer, which would only provoke further teasing. Ordinarily he'd tease her right back, but it felt like a low blow to do so while she was in labour. He looked over his shoulder at the sand racing by below them, and then his eyes lit up. "Hey, look! Mantaic is up ahead!"

"Oh, goody," Judith said, walking over and leaned over the railing to see. "I certainly hope they have painkillers."

They landed outside Mantaic ten minutes later, and wasted no time rushing off the ship to find a doctor. Luckily the town was pretty small, so it didn't take long to find one. Yuri would have preferred a more well-staffed hospital like the one in Dahngrest or Zaphias, but this would have to do. There was one doctor, one nurse, and one bed. The small office, with stone walls and sand dragged in on the wooden floor, had only two rooms, and Yuri, Karol, and Raven had been relegated to the front waiting area. Yuri had wanted to stay and help, but the doctor insisted that the best thing he could do was stay out of the way.

That had been five hours ago. Yuri was pretty sure he'd counted every grain of sand on the floor by now. There wasn't anything to do, but he knew that the moment he left, something would happen. He stretched his legs out and rested his arms behind his head, with Repede napping by his feet.

"Is it supposed to take this long?" Karol asked, resting his cheek on his fist.

"Yep," Raven said. "Ya know, if you had to sit through childbirth first and _then_ get to the sex, humans would have gone extinct ages ago."

"I don't get how it works, either," Karol said.

Yuri looked over in concern. "Karol, please don't tell me no one ever told you where babies come from."

"N-no, I know that!" he said quickly. "But, I only learned how the baby… you know, gets _in_ there. How does it come out? I mean…" He glanced nervously to the door and lowered his voice a bit. "Baby heads are…" He held his hands up a few inches apart. "But girl parts are… um… not." He brought his hands much closer together. "So, how the heck does the baby come out?"

Yuri paused to consider this. It wasn't a topic he'd ever pondered before. His own sex education had just been things he picked up along the way, because certainly no one had ever sat him down and explained how it all worked, so he supposed there were a lot of subjects he wasn't fully informed on. Most of those subjects involved lady bits. "Um… I think it stretches."

"That much?"

"I guess so." He looked to Raven. "Hey, Old Man, have any wisdom you care to share on this matter?"

"What? Me? Uh… something about dilating."

Dilating was what happened when your pupils expanded. Yuri had a mental image of the round pupil in his eye stretching and expanding to twice its original size, and then applied that concept to Judith and her lady parts. His face constricted in horror.

Karol had reached the same mental image as Yuri and said, "It can _do_ that?" He looked even more horrified than Yuri felt.

"It must," Raven said. "How else do ya fit the head through? I heard the doc say somethin' about ten centimetres."

Yuri looked to Raven, aghast. "Does it go back to normal afterward?" This was something he had not even considered. How could they… if it was ten centimetres wide…how was that even possible?

"I think so," Raven said, scratching his chin.

Karol looked sceptical. "How can your body possibly expand by ten centimetres and then pop back to normal?"

"But what about the ears?" Yuri said. "If ten centimetres is normal for humans… do Krityan babies have big ears that stick out and require even more room?" He wasn't even sure if their baby was going to have human ears or Krityan ears, but now that he thought about it, he decided he didn't want to know.

"Oh, I remember somethin'," Raven said, leaning forward. "The doc has got ta cut the bellybutton off or somethin' like that."

"What?!" Karol said.

Yuri was confused, because he knew that he definitely still had a bellybutton, and besides, how could you cut off an indent? He didn't think he really wanted to know. Despite himself, he asked, "What do belly buttons have to do with anything?"

"Well, the baby is attached ta the mom through a cord on their bellies. Then when the baby comes out, the cord is still there. So, ya gotta snip it off."

Yuri's hand instinctively went to his stomach. "_That's_ what bellybuttons are?!" He'd never really thought about _why_ people had bellybuttons. They just did, and that was that. He suddenly longed to go back to those days of blissful ignorance.

"Babies are _attached_?" Karol said.

"They're not just floatin' around in there, that's for sure," Raven said.

"Oh… I kind of just pictured babies snuggled up in a warm dark space and then after nine months they somehow come out and everything is happy."

Raven laughed. "No way! When they come out, they're usually pretty messy."

"Messy with what?" Karol asked.

"Uh…" Raven faltered. "I'm not sure. Fluids of some kind."

Yuri shuddered. The vague suggestion of unnameable 'fluids' was a bit disturbing. "Why would anyone do this voluntarily?!"

Raven patted Yuri on the back. "And that is why evolution put this part _after_ the fun part."

"Hey, Yuri," Karol said, desperate to change the topic, "have you picked a name yet?"

"Dammit, no." He was quickly running out of time. He looked around the room, searching for inspiration. "…Vase Lowell."

"Raven Lowell, call him Raven Lowell!" Raven said.

"No," Yuri said.

"Raven sounds like a girl's name," Karol said.

Raven gave him a dirty look. "And 'Karol' doesn't?"

"Why don't you just name him after someone you know?" Karol suggested, much happier now that they weren't talking about childbirth. "Like, a good friend or something."

Yuri considered this. "Flynn Lowell. …No, that just sounds weird." He glanced at the door, wondering how much longer he had. They'd been here for over five hours, and that wasn't counting the time spent racing toward Mantaic or the hour Judith had spent before they got back. He had to think. What were good names? Names, names… Joseph. Ted. William. Frank. No, these were all terrible. What about –

A baby cried. Yuri froze, his eyes glued to the door. Was that…? Raven and Karol stared at the sound in rapt attention as well.

The door opened and the nurse looked between them. "Which of you is the father?"

Raven and Karol turned their heads to look at Yuri, who slowly stood up. "I am."

The nurse smiled. "You can come in now. Your wife is perfectly healthy."

"She's not my… never mind." That really didn't matter right now. He hurried past her and into the small room, where Judith lay in bed with a bundle of blankets. Yuri stood hesitantly by the bed, not sure what to do or say.

Judith looked up at him with a smile. "I know you were hoping for a boy, and have some good news for you," she said.

Shit, shit, he still didn't have a name. Think of something, quick! Bed Lowell? Yuri, Jr.?

"You're off the hook," Judith said, holding the bundle up to him. "Her name is Joanna."

Yuri gingerly took the tiny baby in his arms, feeling a bit more confident now after practicing with Oliver. He stared down at her, not sure what to say. The first thing he noticed was that her ears were pointy like Judith's. He briefly wondered what this meant for the ten centimetres Raven had mentioned, and then quickly decided he didn't want to know. Her hair was dark, almost as dark as his, but it was so thin and straggly right now he couldn't tell if it was more purplish or bluish. For a second he wondered if someone had come through and given her pigtails, but then realized it was actually tiny antenna like Judith's.

"Looks like she's Krityan," Yuri said.

"Not entirely," Judith said. "Normal Krityan babies have much longer antenna than that, and her eyes are much greyer than usual."

"Oh, so we've got a hybrid freak on our hands, huh?" He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I know you wanted a boy," Judith said. "I hope you aren't too disappointed."

Yuri looked down at the girl. It was so bizarre to think about the fact that this was _his daughter_. He had a daughter. That was surreal. He had been hoping for a son, but now that he held her, he couldn't imagine ever wanting anyone else. "I'm just relieved I don't have to worry a name. Joanna Lowell. That sounds nice. How'd you pick it?"

Judith shrugged. "I just liked the name."

"It's a bit of a mouthful, don't you think?"

Judith frowned. "It's only three syllables."

"Yeah, ok," Yuri said. He looked down at her and said, "What do you think, Jo? Bit long, huh?"

She said nothing, just stared up at him. Yuri sighed. Conversations with babies were impossible.

"So, how do you feel?" Yuri asked, looking to Judith.

"I'm fine," she said. "As soon as she popped out, all the pain stopped. The doctor says if we don't want to stick around in Mantaic we can head back to Dahngrest, provided I stay in bed for the trip and we both see a doctor once we get there."

"Good." Yuri wasn't thrilled about the idea of hanging around Mantaic for a week.

The door burst open, and Raven, Karol, and Repede spilled in. "What's going on?" Karol said. "Is everything ok?"

"Everything is fine, Karol," Yuri said.

"Can we see him?" Raven asked, approaching the bed.

"Her," Yuri corrected as Repede walked up and sniffed her. "Her name is Jo."

"It's Joanna," Judith said.

Yuri looked to Karol and said, "It's Jo."

Judith sighed. "If you insist. The birth certificate is going to say Joanna, though, because 'Jo' isn't a name."

Repede gently licked the side of her face, and her tiny clumsy hands grabbed at his nose. Repede sat still and let her, and then looked up at Yuri and barked slightly. He was letting Yuri know that he understand that this was his master's human, and therefor he was going to look after her, too. Yuri smiled and said, "Thanks, Repede."

Karol leaned over Repede to get a better look at her. He reached out and gently poked her ear. "She's so cute, Yuri! Look, she has little Krityan ears."

In a low voice, Raven mumbled to him, "Remember what I just told you about fluids?"

Karol froze, his face going white, and then he quickly pulled his hand away. He'd play with the baby later, when she hadn't so recently been covered in 'fluids'.

"What was that?" Judith asked.

Raven grinned innocently at her. "Nothin', Judy, darlin'."

Yuri gave Jo back to Judith. "I'll go clear some final things up with the doctor and then we can get out of here."


	12. Possibly a Terrible Idea

**Chapter Twelve: Possibly a Terrible Idea**

"What do we do with Jo on the way back?" Karol asked as they boarded the Fiertia.

"Can't she just sleep with me?" Judith asked.

"No," Karol said, "that's really dangerous for infants. They need to be in a crib or something."

"We don't have a crib," Yuri said. There was a crib waiting for them in Dahngrest, but they weren't prepared for her on the Fiertia yet. He looked down at the baby in his arms and considered. "Well… sleeping in a box was alright for Oliver. Karol, go find an empty box."

Karol ran off as Ba'ul took to the sky. Judith leaned over and kissed Yuri on the cheek. "I'm going to go take a nap. Wake me up when we reach Dahngrest."

"Sleep well." When she left, Yuri walked over to the side of the ship, looking down at the world growing smaller as they rose into the air. "Hey, kid," he said, looking down at Jo, "why are you napping? You're missing a great view." She didn't respond, just slept soundly in his arms. "Do you realize how lucky you are to get to fly like this? Normal babies would kill for this chance!"

Her eyes opened. Oops. He'd actually woken her up. "Sorry," he said quickly. She whined a bit, squirming around in her blanket. The ship lurched as Ba'ul angled north, kicking off a cry.

"Oh, no," Yuri said. "No, no, stop crying." Crap. What did he usually do when Oliver cried? He handed him off to his moms. Well, that wasn't an option now. There was no parent to swoop in and take care of this, because the parent in this case was him. He tried rocking back and forth. Babies liked that, right? "Shhhh. Come on, Jo, shut up."

"Yuri!" Karol said, walking toward him, "I set up a box for her downstairs. I think it will be cosy!"

"Oh, good, thanks Captain Karol," Yuri said.

"What'd you do?" Karol said, looking down at the crying baby.

"Hey, don't look at me," he said. "She doesn't like Ba'ul's sudden movements."

"Hey, Jo," Karol said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a ring of keys. "Look at this." He dangled the keys above her head.

"She's not a cat," Yuri said. To his chagrin, it actually worked. Jo's cries faded away as she stared at the jangling keys in rapture. "Ok, maybe she's a little like a cat."

"We should put her to bed."

"Yeah." He followed Karol across the deck, a bit annoyed by the fact that he hadn't been able to soothe her himself. Some parent he was. Well, he'd only been a parent for about two hours, so he figured he still had plenty of time to figure out what he was doing. How had Estelle and Rita done it? Estelle had seemed like a natural mom the moment Oliver was born.

They walked downstairs and Karol pointed to the empty crate lined in pillows and blankets that he'd put together. "It's great, thanks, Karol," Yuri said. He crouched and settled the baby down in the box, thinking about just how much Flynn would disapprove of this. When she was settled, he stared down at her and said, "Go to sleep."

She just stared up at him.

Yuri's shoulders slumped. "Please go to sleep."

"Maybe you should sing her a song, Yuri," Karol said.

"I don't sing," he said quickly.

"Babies likes songs," Karol said.

Yuri thought about this. The only songs he knew were the ones that might be sung in bars, and only when sufficiently tipsy. He knew one about how a mage's staff had a knob at the end, but he didn't think that was appropriate to sing to his daughter. He also knew a song about a sword called Excalibur, but it was a silly song and he didn't want to sing it in front of Karol. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said.

Rather than singing, Yuri stood and pointed commandingly down at Jo. "Sleep," he said in a firm voice.

Karol rolled his eyes. "Yuri, you can't just-"

Jo's eyes flickered close. "Ha!" Yuri said. "Now, let's get out of here before she wakes up and starts crying again. I'm going to go have a word with Ba'ul about rocking the boat."

* * *

They arrived in Dahngrest after dark. Karol and Raven headed home, while Yuri and Judith stopped by the doctor. He declared both Judith and Jo healthy as could be, and then they were finally able to head home.

Yuri tossed his bag on the floor and sat down at the kitchen table. He twisted around to face Judith, saying, "Good to be – uh, what are you doing?"

She'd taken her shirt off, and Yuri glanced to the window to make sure the blinds were closed. "Feeding her," Judith said. "You are aware of how this works, aren't you?"

"Oh. Right." He was pretty sure most women worked out how to breastfeed without stripping topless in the living room, but Judith had apparently decided that as long as they were alone, it was easier to just get rid of the shirt entirely. Yuri couldn't exactly complain about this turn of events.

"Do we have everything we need?" he asked, leaning on his hand.

"Enough for now," Judith said. "Estelle gave us some of Oliver's old clothes." She saw his face and added, "Don't worry, I didn't take any of the particularly fancy ones. They're intended for a boy, but at this stage I don't think she'll be traumatised by wearing a blue onesie rather than a pink one."

Yuri nodded. Rita had apparently decided to use them to get rid of all the extra baby crap by loading it all off on them. Oliver had been given enough toys to open up his own toy store, so there wasn't much use in Yuri and Judith going out and buying more stuff.

After Jo was fed, Judith put a diaper on her, wrapped her in a blanket, and handed her to Yuri. "She's not really tired yet, so entertain her for a bit. I'm going to bed," Judith said. "I'm exhausted."

"Well, you pushed an entire human being out of your crotch this morning so I guess I can't fault you for that. I'm not really tired yet, though."

"Alright. Don't stay up too late; remember we're planning on going to Zaphias tomorrow morning."

"Right." He actually had forgotten about that. Their next guild mission was at Deidon Hold so they were heading to Zaphias the day before to meet up with their friends. Arriving with a new baby hadn't been in the plans, but it was too late to send a message saying they couldn't make it without the others worrying when they didn't show up.

"Good night," Judith said, walking to the bedroom.

Yuri sat down on the couch with Jo. He remembered Rita saying something about making sure to support the head, so now he was paranoid about moving his arms. She had slept all the way home from Mantaic and only woke up at the doctor's office. As such, she was wide awake and he wasn't sure what his chances of getting her to go back to bed were.

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" he asked. Unsurprisingly, she didn't respond. This was frustrating. They'd finally gotten to the point where Oliver could talk back, and now he was back to wordlessness. What did you even do with a newborn?

He leaned back against the couch and sighed. He was bored. He wasn't tired, Jo certainly wasn't tired, and there was nothing to do. He looked down at her and said, "We should go out. Do you have any problems with that?"

She didn't protest, so he stood up and walked to her nursery to find some clothes. He laid her out on the changing table and pulled out some of Oliver's old stripey, blue pajamas. They were going out, so he grabbed a hat to keep her head warm.

"What kind of hat do you call this, huh?" It was a tiny knit beanie, a little bit bigger than his fist. He stretched it in his hands and waved it in front of her face. "This isn't a hat; it's practically a handkerchief." He tugged it onto her head, pausing when he reached her ears. How was he supposed to pull it over her ears? He stared at the hat for a few seconds, and then poked his finger through the knitted yarn. He wiggled it around, opening the hole wider, and then did the same on the other side. "Look, you're making me destroy Oliver's old hat. I hope you're happy, you little freak." He poked her ears through the newly made hat holes. Her antenna stuck out at the back like tiny pigtails.

He grabbed a blanket and wrapped her up in it. He wasn't sure how you were supposed to wrap a baby, so he treated her like the meat filling of a lunch wrap and folded the blanket accordingly.

"Ready to go?" She didn't say otherwise, so he picked her up and held her against his shoulder, and then headed for the door.

On his way down the stairs, he passed Karol. "Oh, hi, Yuri," he said. "Did everything go ok with the doctor?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," he said.

Karol caught sight of Jo and said, "She has a little Krityan hat! That's so cute!"

"Yeah, I had to alter the hat a bit."

"Where are you guys going?"

"Actually, I thought I'd go down and get a drink. Judy's asleep and I was worried about leaving Jo alone, so I'm bringing her with me. Want to come?"

"Sure."

Yuri continued down the stairs, and Karol turned around to follow him back the way he had come. They left the Brave Vesperia building and walked down the street.

"Are you and Judith still going to be able to do that job out of Deidon Hold?"

"I think so," Yuri said. "Judy may sit it out depending on how she's feeling. We can leave Jo with Estelle. I'm sure she won't mind."

"Alright. Just let me know if you guys need some time off."

"Look what you're doing, Jo," Yuri said, looking down at the baby sleeping on his chest. "Screwing up our work schedules. If we can't work and lose all our money and wallow in poverty, it's going to be your fault."

They reached the bar Yuri regularly frequented. Karol paused and said, "Yuri, is this really where you were headed? I thought you were just going to a café or something."

"Why not? I always come here."

"Yuri, you can't take a baby to a bar!"

Yuri opened the door and walked in. "What's the big deal? It's just a bunch of guys having some drinks." The bar was pretty relaxed this evening. There were a few clusters of patrons and a low murmur of conversation in the air. Yuri spotted a group of men off to the side and headed toward them. These were Brave Vesperia guildsmen. They were still a relatively small guild, but in the years since the Adephagos they'd attracted a handful of new members. Yuri and Judith still took on the bulk of the contracts beyond Dahngrest, though, thanks to Ba'ul.

"Yuri!" one of the men said when he noticed him. He lifted his frothy glass in greeting. "How was the desert? You guys weren't here this afternoon. Did you run into trouble?"

"Not exactly," Yuri said. He stood next to the table and pulled Jo away from his chest, holding her out for the whole group to see. She had woken up, and stared around at the group in confusion. Yuri couldn't keep a beaming grin off his face as he said, "I'd like to introduce Jo, Brave Vesperia's newest member!"

A cheer ran out through the group. "So Judith had the kid, then?" a man called Ivan said.

"No, I just found this one on the street," Yuri said, kicking a chair back and sitting down.

Karol sat beside him, and a few guild members took the time to say, "Oh, hi, Boss," but most were still focusing on the baby.

"So, I bet you're pretty happy," Ivan said. "You got the son you wanted."

"Son?" Yuri looked down at Jo in confusion. "She's my daughter, dumbass."

Now it was Ivan's turn to look confused. "Oh. Ok, but she's wearing blue and you just told us her name is Joe, so don't get mad at me for being confused."

"No!" Yuri said. "Jo as in just J-O."

Karol supplied, "It's short for Joanna."

"Ah, ok," Ivan said.

"What, do you think I'm an idiot?" Yuri said. "I'm not going to name my daughter Joseph."

"Yeah, whatever, I never know with you, Yuri. Anyway, let me buy you a drink! It's not every day a man becomes a father."

"Hey, thanks."

Ivan got up to go get drinks, while George scooted over and said, "Yuri, can I hold her?"

"Alright, just don't drop her or anything."

"I won't." George was a big guy, about a head taller than Yuri and twice as wide. His leather armour creaked as he reached for Jo, who was about the size of his forearm. Yuri had once seen him rip a giant spider in half with his bare hands. He now cradled Jo in those hands, his lined face breaking into a smile.

"Hey, you're letting the big guy hold her?" a young woman said said, crossing her arms over her battered breastplate.

"Like you should talk, Lena," another man said. "Didn't you drop your nephew?"

She punched him roughly in the arm. "His fault for squirming! Besides, he fell on a couch. He was fine."

Yuri made a mental note not to allow Lena anywhere near Jo.

Ivan returned and placed a glass mug on the table in front of Yuri. "Here ya go! Oh, I got a glass of grape juice for you, Boss." He slid this in front of Karol.

Karol frowned. "You know, I am old enough to drink now."

"Yeah," Yuri said, wiping his mouth and lowering the glass after his first drink, "but last time I let you try my beer, you had a coughing fit and then drowned an entire pitcher of lemonade to get the taste out of your mouth."

The rest of the guild members laughed, while Karol crossed his arms and blushed a bit. "Sh-shut up, Yuri." He took a sip of his grape juice.

"Hey, big guy, you've been holding the baby long enough," Bert said. "Give me a turn." When he had her in his arms, he grinned and said, "She's a real beauty, Yuri. Ha! Must take after her mom, because she certainly doesn't look like you."

While the rest of the group laughed, Yuri said, "Big talk from someone with a horrific growth coming out of his face. Oh, I'm sorry – that's just your nose."

Bert sneered at him. "You really want to insult me while I'm holding your kid?"

Yuri grinned at him. It was the sort of grin usually seen on a shark. "I didn't take you for the suicidal sort, Bert."

Bert through his head back and laughed. "I'm joking, Yuri."

"What's all the fuss over here?" a guy Yuri recognized as being from Fortune's Market came over. His eyes lit up. "Is that a baby?"

Bert held Jo up a bit for him to see. "It's Yuri's baby! Isn't she a sweetheart?"

"A baby! Congratulations, Yuri!" He slapped Yuri on the back a couple times and then returned to his table.

"Here," Bert said, leaning across the table. "I think she wants to go back to Daddy."

Yuri took her, but rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that." 'Daddy' sounded silly. It was what spoiled rich girls called their doting fathers. "Just 'Dad' will be fine." He cradled her in one arm and drank with his other hand. His beer was already over half gone by now.

"So, when are you going to start her on a sword?" Lena asked. "Knowing you, that's your first priority."

Yuri laughed a bit. "I figure I should wait for her to walk, at least."

The man from Fortune's Market returned, putting down another pint of beer in front of Yuri. "Here! On me! Congratulations, man."

"Hey, thanks a lot." He drained his first drink in one big gulp so that he could move on to the second. He let out a deep breath when he finished. "We should celebrate like this every time Brave Vesperia gets a new member."

"I wouldn't say she's a member yet, exactly," Bert said.

"Why not?" Yuri said.

"She hasn't sworn to uphold the guild laws, for one thing. She doesn't even _know_ the guild laws."

"Sure she does." Yuri looked down at her and said, "You know the laws, don't you?" She stared up at him curiously. He reached down and brushed one of her antenna's away from her cheek. She was certainly better behaved than Oliver had been. At least, his strongest memory of Oliver as a newborn was that hellish day of crib-building when he'd screamed for practically the entire day.

"She can't know the laws," Bert said tiredly. "She can't even speak yet."

Karol tried to be diplomatic and said, "Maybe she doesn't know them yet, but she can still be counted as a member of the guild because her parents were founding members. She can swear to the laws when she comes of age if she chooses to stay in the guild."

Before Bert could debate this, another woman walked over and placed yet another beer on the table in front of Yuri. "I heard the news; congratulations!"

"Another?" Yuri said. "I haven't even finished my second one yet!"

"Don't turn it down!" Ivan said. "Cardinal rule, Yuri: never turn down free beer."

Yuri nodded and took a swig of his drink. "Truer words have never been spoken."

"Yuri, are you sure this is a good idea?" Karol said. "You really shouldn't be drinking too much when you've got Jo with you."

"Don't worry so much, Captain Karol," Yuri said. "Just because you get wasted from a single beer doesn't mean we all do. Trust me; I know my limit."

Karol frowned hesitantly. "If you say so, Yuri."

* * *

An hour later, Karol had come to the conclusion that Yuri did not, in fact, know his limit. He sat to the side with Jo in his lap, watching as Yuri got progressively drunker. Yuri was quite popular in Dahngrest, thanks to his fame for defeating the Adephagos, so whenever a newcomer to the bar heard that the beloved Yuri Lowell was here celebrating the birth of his first child, they automatically sent a drink over to congratulate him. Through a combination of not wanting to be rude by rejecting the drink, and greatly overestimating his tolerance, Yuri was pretty far gone. The fact that the rest of the Brave Vesperia group were getting similarly drunk didn't help.

Yuri laughed loudly at a joke that wasn't even funny, and leaned so far back in his chair he would have fallen over if George hadn't caught his chair back in time. Karol sighed and looked down at Jo. "Your father is an idiot," he said. "I hope you inherited some common sense from…" He paused, considering whether or not he'd count 'common sense' as one of Judith's attributes. He sighed again. "I hope you learn some common sense from someone else."

Karol looked over at the table, where the entire guild was singing a rousing chorus of a song about a hedgehog. Luckily, Jo didn't seem to mind the singing. Karol glanced at the clock on the wall; it was past midnight. He rolled his eyes and got up, walking over to Yuri. "Hey, Yuri, I think we ought to head home."

Yuri laughed and tried to shove him away. Karol was saved by the fact that he missed. "Go 'way, Karol, 'm busy."

"Yuri, it's getting pretty late, and you're pretty drunk."

"What're ya talkin 'bout?" Yuri said. "'M not drunk. Haven' had that much, 'm still fine. I could do more an' be fine."

Karol groaned in frustration. "Yes, you are. We should go home. Jo is getting sleepy."

"Give her here," Yuri said, holding his arms out.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Karol said. He'd recently watched Yuri try to put his drink down on the table, miss, and spill beer all over his pants. Handing him a fragile day-old baby was not the best of ideas.

"Give her!" Yuri said.

"No! You'll hurt her!" He held her protectively against his chest.

"Stop being so boring, Boss," Lena said. "Why're you always such a… a…"

"A stick in the mud," George filled in.

"Yeah!" Lena said. "That."

The whole group laughed, and Bert said, "C'mon, have a proper drink, Boss! Ya'd have more fun if ya weren't just drinking jape gruse… Grape juice!"

"Yeah, here," Yuri said, holding up his pint. "I'll trade you – beer fur burr bar...for Jo."

"No, Yuri," Karol said firmly. "You're not holding her when you're drunk, and I'm not joining you. It's time to go home."

"You can't make me!" Yuri said, drinking from his glass when it was apparent Karol wasn't going to take it. "You're jus' a kid, you can't take care of a kid. She needs a dad, gotta take care of her."

"I am the boss of Brave Vesperia!" Karol said in as commanding a voice as he could. "All of you had better listen up! It's time to go home."

"Yeah, whatever, Boss," Lena said. The rest of the group collectively ignored him.

"Guys!" Karol yelled. It was _hard_ being the boss of a guild when almost all of your subordinates had a good ten years on you. Karol worked as hard as he could to be a strong commander, to lead the guild in the right direct and make Don Whitehorse proud, and he thought that he usually did a good job. But then things like this happened, forcefully reminding him that everyone only listened to him because they felt like it, and that when push came to shove he didn't really have that much power.

He growled in frustration. "Yuri, listen to me!" Yuri was always the worst about this. Karol always got the feeling that Yuri only did what he said when what Karol wanted happened to line up with what Yuri wanted. He was certain that Yuri still saw him at least partially as the little kid cowering from an egg bear in the Quoi Woods, and getting him to do something he didn't want to do was like getting water to run uphill. Karol gripped Jo tighter, trying to control his frustration. He still had a long way to go before he could live up to the Don.

A new voice appeared from behind him. "What's going on here?"

Karol spun around. He was familiar with that voice, and he withheld a sigh of frustration. Now was not the time he wanted to deal with Fred Grimes. "What do you want, Grimes?" Grimes was the boss of a mercenary guild. They used to specialize in escort services, but then Brave Vesperia came along with Ba'ul and rocketed to the top of the list of guilds to travel with. Grimes' clientele shifted to Brave Vesperia, and the guild all but dried up.

"What's this?" Grimes said, looking down at the baby in Karol's arms. A handful of his fellow guildsmen stood behind him. Karol guessed they were coming from another bar, because they already seemed a little buzzed. "An infant? Let me guess, this is Brave Vesperia's new boss?"

Yuri's chair scraped back so fast the screech hurt Karol's ears. "What did you say?" He stood behind Karol, trying to look threatening. The fact that he had to clutch the table for balance diminished the impression, as did his swaying back and forth and clutching his forehead.

"What's with the ears?" Grimes said. He looked to Yuri's angry face and laughed. "Oh, wait, let me guess! You knocked up that Krityan chick, didn't you?" He reached out and tugged on Jo's ears, saying, "And now you have a little freak baby."

Jo whined and pulled her head away. Karol stepped back and pulled her closer to his chest, while Yuri lunged at him, shouting, "Don't you fucking touch her!"

"Yuri!" Karol shouted.

The rest of Brave Vesperia rose to their feet, and Karol backed away before he and Jo got caught in the crossfire. Yuri attempted to punch Grimes in the face, missed, and then forgot to step forward to catch his balance. He started to fall forward, but then Grimes grabbed the front of his shirt and kneed him in the gut, which was George's cue to crack his knuckles and come to Yuri's aid.

"Stop fighting!" Karol yelled. "Everyone, sit down!"

He might as well have been yelling at a wall. The next thing he knew, Brave Vesperia and Grimes' men were going at it. Throughout the bar, the rest of the patrons stood to cheer them on. Some of them got in on the action, but since they weren't sure what the fight was even about they mostly just punched anyone that came near them.

"Everyone, stop!" Karol shouted, trying to be heard over the ruckus. He was powerless to stop them. He couldn't even see Yuri in the crowd anymore, although he occasionally heard his voice.

Someone crashed into him, sending him falling back against the wall. He smacked his head hard against the wall, and the violent movement pushed Jo over the edge, adding a baby's wails to the chaos. Karol groaned, too busy dealing with his sudden headache to try and soothe her now.

"Shut that baby up!" an angry man said. He reached out and tried to cover Jo's mouth with his hand. Her face was tiny and his hand large, but he was too drunk to think through the fact that this action could smother her.

Luckily, before he could do anything, Yuri lunged through the crowd and tackled him to the ground. "Don't! Touch! Her!" he shouted, punctuating each word with a punch.

"Yuri, let's go!" Karol begged. "We need to get out of here."

"Take Jo home, Karol," Yuri snapped. He stood up and wobbled, constantly taking small steps to the side to keep his balance, but then flashed Karol a cocky grin. "I got this."

"No, you don't, Yuri!" Karol stamped his foot down. "You're going to get hurt!" He noticed the blood running down his chin from his split lip. "You're already hurt!"

"I'm fine!" he said, and then ran back into the fray.

"_Yuri_!" Karol watched him go, not willing to risk following him for fear of putting Jo in danger. He looked down at the crying baby, wondering what to do. He couldn't just leave Yuri here, but he certainly couldn't get Yuri out on his own. He took a deep breath, and then ran for the door.

The night felt very still and quiet after the mayhem in the bar. His head still hurt and Jo was still crying, but now that he was out of the fray he had time to stop and soothe her. "Shhh," he said, rocking her back and forth. "I'm sorry your dad is such an idiot. I know he hasn't given you a very good first impression, but he really is a great guy." Jo's cries quieted a bit, and Karol kept going. "He's really brave and he's really nice. I think you're really lucky to have Yuri as your dad. Just… sometimes you have to deal with him being an idiot."

Jo stopped crying, and stared up at him curiously. It was almost unnerving.

"Are you ok now? Because we need to go get help for your dumb father."

He walked through the streets as quickly as he could. It was late, but he knew Dahngrest well so wasn't worried about getting lost. Luckily, his destination wasn't too far. Only about five minutes after leaving the bar, he was standing outside an apartment and banging on the door.

The door opened, revealing Raven making bedroom eyes at him and saying in a seductive voice, "Why, hellooooo – Oh!" His smile dropped and he stood upright. Karol raised his eyebrows at Raven, who shook his head quickly. "Whoa! Not who I was expectin'!" He leaned against the doorway. "Sorry 'bout that. What can I do for ya, kid?"

"It's Yuri," Karol said, pushing past Raven's misaimed attempt to seduce him. "He's gotten himself into a bar fight and I can't get him to leave. He's also really drunk."

Raven ran his fingers through his bangs. "That kid, always getting' himself into trouble…" he sighed heavily. "I suppose you want me ta get him out?"

"Please, Raven?" Karol said.

"Yeah, yeah, I can help. I was expectin' some, ah, female company but she's not supposed to be here until later… I have time."

"Thank you!"

"Lead the way," he said.

They hurried back to the bar. Jo was quiet now, tiredness beginning to overcome her.

"So, why exactly were ya at a bar?" Raven said.

"I don't know," Karol said. "It was Yuri's idea. I told him it was dumb." They reached the bar. Karol could hear sounds of the fight from the street. "He's in here," Karol said.

Raven opened the door, unleashing a wave of noise. "Oh, geeze," he said. "How does that kid always manage ta get himself inta things like this?"

Karol sidled into the bar, sticking close to the wall. He almost wished Jo would cry again, because that was sure to summon Yuri to his side.

To their great fortune, Yuri made himself known when someone punched him solidly in the face, causing him to stagger backward and fall out of the crowd. He landed on the ground on his back, and Raven grabbed his arm to help him up. Yuri tried to go rushing back into the fray, but Raven held his arm tight.

"Lemme go!" Yuri shouted, tugging at his arm and leaning away from him.

"Oh no you don't," Raven said. "I think ya've had enough for tonight, Yuri."

"Gerroff me! I'm fine! Gonna kick all their asses!"

"Sure ya are." He held Yuri's arm tightly and wrapped his other arm around Yuri's shoulders. "Come on, ya big idiot."

Karol saw Grimes push to the front. "What, running away, Yuri?!"

Yuri thrashed against Raven's grip. "Lemme go! I hav'ta kill him! I can take him! I'm fine!"

Raven shoved him out the door, and Karol quickly ran out after him. Raven didn't release his grip on Yuri until they were about a block away from the bar.

"I coulda taken 'em," Yuri mumbled, wobbling to stay upright once Raven released him. His cheek was swollen, blood ran down his chin, and he had a gash across the bridge of his nose, and that wasn't counting whatever injuries were hidden under his shirt.

"You told me you weren't going to get drunk, Yuri," Karol said.

"I'm not!" Yuri said. "Look, 'm _fine_." He strode forward a few steps, entire body suddenly swinging to the side and slamming him into the brick wall of the building next to them. "Ow…"

Raven sighed. "Alright, let's get ya home." He wrapped Yuri's arm around his shoulders and led him down the street. It was slow going, because Yuri kept dragging his feet and nearly falling over, or even entirely forgetting to use his legs and almost dragged them both down to the ground. For some reason, he found nearly tripping onto his face very funny, and then paused to giggle about this.

"Don't wanna go home, le's stay out," Yuri pouted. "We should go somewhere."

"No, Yuri, we have to go home," Karol sighed.

"We hav'ta do somethin'." Yuri stopped walking entirely, standing up but leaning his full weight on Raven.

"Hold on, kid, this should be good," Raven said with an amused smirk. "Just what do ya plan on doin'?"

"We gotta stay out," Yuri insisted. "Le's go get dinner. Or ice cream. Or drinks. Yeah we should go out and get drinks."

"No, Yuri!" Karol yelled. "You're going to make Judith worry, and you have a daughter to get home!"

"Nah Judy's fine." He paused, eyes suddenly wide. "Karol we have to go to the store Judy's gonna kill me!"

"What's this about?" Raven hoisted him up and dragged him along, letting him ramble as his boots scraped against the dusty ground.

"We have to go to the store _right now._ I forgot to buy…." He trailed off, staring at the ground for a good ten seconds. "We're out of sugar, I have to get some."

"Judith will understand, just walk, Yuri." Karol would have pushed him forward if he wasn't too busy taking care of Jo.

"No she won't she's gonna kill me. I can't fight Judy she'll kill me." Yuri looked like he was about to cry in fear.

"I, umm…." Karol thought for a moment. "I already bought the sugar. I had extra so I gave some to Judith."

"It's my family, I have to provide now. Taking care of my girls." Yuri ground his toes into the ground, but Raven kept a tight hold on him.

"I've got your back, Yuri. You have to trust me to take care of you sometimes." Karol patted his shoulder lightly.

"Alright, thanks man. Love ya Karol, really."

"That's nice, Yuri."

"No, I really love you."

Karol rolled his eyes. "I love you too, Yuri."

"I dun tell you enough. Yer – yer like a brother to me."

"I know, Yuri. Let's just go home now."

"What?" Raven said. "No love for the Old Man?"

The Brave Vesperia building was almost in sight and Karol began to hope they could reach it with no more problems, when Yuri suddenly said, "Hey… Raven… I don't think I feel good."

"What?" Raven said, looking over at Yuri in alarm. "Oh no." He pushed Yuri away from him. Yuri stumbled, flailed his arms around, and then fell to his hands and knees, where he promptly threw up. Raven groaned in irritation and pulled Yuri's long hair back from his face. "Just how much did he drink?"

"I don't know," Karol said, shifting Jo's weight in his arms. She was fast asleep now. "I lost count."

"Just great."

"This is nothin'," Yuri mumbled. "Ya should see Flynn. He – he actually gets drunk. Can't hold his liquor at all! Nothin' like me, I can hold it. I hold everything." He laughed, and then threw up into the gutter again.

"Clearly completely unlike you, Yuri," Karol said.

"Tha's what I'm sayin'. 'M better than Flynn."

Raven managed to pull Yuri back to his feet and they made it, with some effort, to the Brave Vesperia building. Upstairs and in front of Yuri's door, Raven said, "Do ya have the key?"

"Hang on, I got it," Yuri said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a key and immediately dropped it. "Oops." He laughed as he crouched to get it, face pushed against the door for balance, and then he missed the keyhole three times before finally unlocking the door.

Once they were inside, Raven said, "Go put the kid ta bed. I'll take care of Yuri."

Karol walked into the nursery, which had walls of varying shades of purple. Some splotches were more red and others were more blue, and the edges of the floor and the ceiling were also splotched with paint, because neither Yuri nor Judith were experienced painters and things had gotten a little messy.

He settled the sleeping Jo in her crib, while he heard the sounds of Raven washing Yuri's face in the bathroom. Karol sighed and looked down at the baby. "I _promise_ he's not always like this. You'll see."

Karol left the room and passed Raven and Yuri in the hallway heading to Yuri's bedroom. Yuri now had a few bandages covering the cuts on his face, and the blood and vomit on his chin was gone. Yuri pushed Raven away and said, "I can make it to bed on my own."

"Alright," Raven said. "Have a good sleep."

Yuri stumbled into his bedroom, legs flailing around in a way that looked like they shouldn't support a person's weight, and Raven and Karol walked away. "Hey, Raven," Karol said, "do you think we should tell Judith about this?"

They heard a thump, followed by Judith's voice saying, "Oof! Yuri, what are you doing?"

"Oops, sorry," Yuri said. The bed creaked, and Karol could imagine Yuri crawling over Judith, having forgotten which side of the bed to climb in on.

Raven glanced over his shoulder. "I think she already knows. Or at least, she'll figure it out when he wakes up tomorrow completely hungover and covered in injuries from a fight."

Karol sighed as they left the apartment. "How did that idiot save the world?"


	13. The Hangover

**Chapter Thirteen: The Hangover **

Judith awoke to the sound of Yuri throwing up in the bathroom. She stared at the ceiling and sighed. She'd been hoping that getting rudely awoken in the middle of the night by a drunk Yuri crawling across her had been a dream, but it seemed that wasn't the case. She got up from bed and walked over to the bathroom.

"So, did you have fun last night?"

Yuri didn't even look up from his position kneeling in front of the toilet as he groaned.

"I told you we were going to Zaphias this morning."

He turned his head to look at her and groaned out something along the lines of 'I know.' Judith didn't pay much attention to that, because she'd just gotten a good look at his face and was a bit surprised to see that he had a black eye, a bandage across his nose, and a scabbed-over split lip.

"What happened to you?" she asked, a bit concerned.

Yuri stared at her with unfocused eyes, and then reached up to touch the bandage on his nose. "I'm… not sure."

"Well, it looks like you were in a fight."

Yuri nodded slowly. "It's… kinda fuzzy."

"Are you badly injured?"

Yuri was silent again, as if the question was deeply challenging. "Uh… I can't tell. Everything hurts." He moaned again, and then leaned over and threw up again.

"You know you brought this on yourself, right?"

He mumbled something which sounded like 'I'm sorry.'

She rolled her eyes, and then grabbed a hair-tie from the counter and wordlessly tied Yuri's hair back. She was annoyed with him, but she understood that he'd been celebrating. Still, Yuri generally had a high tolerance for alcohol, so for him to have gotten that drunk, he must have had a _lot_. This was his own fault, so even though she hoped he felt better soon, she wasn't going to pity him. "We're still leaving this morning, you know."

Yuri just groaned in response.

They were ready to go in about half an hour, for a given definition of 'ready' in Yuri's case. He was dressed and upright, although he leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. After feeding her, Judith snuggled Jo into a basket. It was a basket ordinarily used to carry fruits and vegetables from the market, but it had a handle and Jo seemed to find it cosy.

"Carry the bags, please, Yuri," Judith said.

Without opening his eyes, Yuri said, "Can't you get them?"

"My hands are full carrying your child." And she was definitely going to be the one to carry Jo, because she didn't fully trust Yuri not to fall over and drop the bags everywhere. Unlike Jo's basket, nothing in their luggage was breakable.

Yuri groaned and then picked up the bags, slinging them over his shoulder. "Alright. Let's go."

They headed out of the apartment. As they crossed the main office downstairs, Karol said, "Oh, hi, guys. Are you going to Zaphias?"

"That's right," Judith said.

"Wow, I'm impressed you got Yuri up and moving."

"It took a bit of effort."

Yuri tried to glare at Karol, though he couldn't get his face to look very threatening when he was busy feeling like he wanted to die.

"You and Raven helped Yuri home last night, didn't you?" she asked, recalling hearing their voices last night after Yuri crawled over her.

"That's right," Karol said.

"What exactly happened?"

"Uh… there was a bit of a fight."

"I gathered as much. Knowing Yuri, he was the instigator, wasn't he?"

Karol smiled a bit. "Heh, yeah. Grimes showed up and he insulted Jo, so Yuri kind of attacked him."

Judith frowned and looked down at Jo. "Insulted Jo? Was she there?"

Karol balked, suddenly realizing he'd said something he shouldn't have. "Er… uh…no…"

Clearly Karol was as good at lying as ever.

Judith gave Yuri a cross look. "You took Jo to a bar?"

"She didn't get hurt!" Karol quickly said. "Yuri just wanted to show her off to his friends, and then things got a little out of hand."

Judith whacked Yuri's shoulder. "You idiot."

"Ow!" Yuri said, clutching his shoulder. "I'm already injured, dammit!"

"More importantly," Judith said, "did Grimes come out worse than Yuri?"

"Uh…" Karol said. "I'm not sure. He was in better shape when we left, but at the start of the fight Yuri was already significantly more drunk than him, so Grimes had the advantage."

"I see," Judith said. "Well, when we get back to Dahngrest, remind me that I need to beat up Grimes and punish him properly."

Yuri forced a pained laugh. "Can I go with you? I owe him a fist to the face."

"If you're not hungover, I suppose."

"Bye, guys," Karol said. "Remember to report to Deidon Hold tomorrow to help those guys out, and say hello to Estelle, Rita, and Oliver for me!"

"We will," Judith said, and then headed for the door.

Yuri followed, his eyes half-closed, and then crashed into the doorway on the way out. "Ow…" He dropped his bag, spilling its contents.

Judith sighed. "And that's why you're not carrying Jo."

* * *

"Why do you always go through so much trouble cooking?" Rita asked, leaning forward with her chin on her hands. "You've got an entire castle's worth of servants at your disposal, why do you bother?"

Estelle smiled, although she knew Rita couldn't see it with her back to her. "I like cooking," she said, chopping up chives. A pot of vichyssoise simmered on the stove. She was determined to get the group to use the proper name for it this time. The last time she'd cooked it, she'd gotten Yuri to call it 'vichyssoise' after using the name exclusively around him, but then Yuri had immediately realized what she'd done and stubbornly went back to calling it potato soup, just to spite her. "It's so satisfying to see your friends happy because of something you prepared."

"If you say so," Rita said. "Think Oliver would actually like potato soup?"

Estelle's smiled dropped. "No, but he might like vichyssoise."

"What do you think, Oliver?" Rita said, looking down at the boy. He sat on the floor in the living room, stacking up blocks into a tower. "Can you say 'vichyssoise'?"

Oliver stared at her, curious about the new word. He tried, "Fishy sauce."

"Close enough," Rita said. "Don't worry about it. Just call it potato soup."

"That's not what it's called, Rita," Estelle said. She tried not to get upset, because she knew the only reason Rita called it potato soup was that she thought it was cute when Estelle got huffy about it.

Estelle finished chopping the chives and put them aside for now. The soup still needed to simmer for about ten minutes, but it would be ready by the time Yuri, Judith, and Flynn arrived.

"Hey, Estelle…"

Estelle turned around, and saw Rita twisted around to stare at Oliver with a thoughtful expression. "What is it?"

"I've been thinking. I think we should sign Oliver up for some kind of preschool soon."

Estelle froze. "What?"

Rita was still looking at Oliver as she said, "He'll be two this week. Don't you think it's time he got out and met other kids his own age? And it would be a good start academically."

"Isn't it a little early to start worrying about academics?" Estelle asked. She sat down at the table across from Rita. "He's only two."

"Right, he's already two. If we can give him a jump start on education, we can take it."

"But… he's still just a baby," Estelle said.

"Hardly." Rita finally turned around to face Estelle. "He's a toddler now. He should be starting to learn to read by now."

Estelle frowned. "I didn't learn how to read until I was six."

"Well, I could read basic stuff by the time I was three."

"Yes, but you're a genius, Rita," Estelle said.

"And Oliver can't be?"

"I didn't say that! I just don't think he's ready for preschool."

"You can't keep him at home forever, you know," Rita said. "He's going to have to go to school eventually, so we might as well start him off as soon as possible and give him a head start."

"No," Estelle said, folding her hands together. "It won't hurt him to start schooling when he's four or five. He doesn't need the extra years of preschool."

"But think of how much better he will be if he starts now! He'll be at the top of his class."

"That isn't how it works," Estelle said. "He's not going to go to a regular school, he's going to have a private tutor. He's a prince."

Rita waved her hand. "Right, whatever, so we send him to a fancy noble preschool and then when he starts with his tutor, he'll already be advanced."

"Why are you so concerned about pushing him?" Estelle asked. "What's wrong with him spending another couple years at home with me?"

"Is that what this is about? You want him home with you?"

"Yes, I do, because I don't think he's ready for school."

"I just want what's best for him!"

"I do too!"

"He should go to some sort of daycare where he can meet other kids his age."

"That isn't going to work," Estelle said. "Oliver is the prince – he's never going to fit in with the other kids."

"So we should start him now, when the other kids are still too little to know what a prince is."

"They might not, but their parents will," Estelle said. "I don't want parents manipulating their children and trying to get them to be Oliver's friends just to try and gain political favour. That isn't fair to any of the kids involved."

"Well, how do you propose he meet peers?"

"He doesn't have any peers!" Estelle said. She frowned and clenched her hands together. "I'm sorry for shouting, Rita. But this is how I grew up, too. None of the noble children will ever be on the same level as him. He should stay at home until he's ready for a private tutor."

"But that's a terrible way to grow up!" Rita blurted out.

Estelle bit her lip and tried to quell the flash of indignation. "Well, that's how I grew up," she said stiffly.

"Yeah, and look what happened to you until you met us!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Estelle said crossly.

"Oh, you know, you used to be such a flighty, naïve princess. I'm not saying you are _now_."

"I was not flighty," Estelle said, crossing her arms.

"Oh, please. 'Let's charge into the Sands of Kogorh! That's a great idea that definitely won't get me killed!'."

"Well it didn't!"

"Don't get mad at me; I just said I don't think you are now."

"We were discussing Oliver," Estelle said, trying to get off this subject before it got her madder at Rita. There were some critiscisms of Rita's personality that she could easily bring up, but she didn't because she was polite and didn't want to hurt her feelings. "The point is that he's just too young to even be considering this."

"No, that's the point we're arguing about, _Estellise_," Rita said.

Estelle glared at her. She hated it when Rita called her 'Estellise', which she reserved for times when they were seriously angry with each other.

The door knocking interrupted them. Rather than continue arguing, Estelle leapt to her feet to answer the door. She hated arguing with Rita, but she wasn't going to concede just to stop the argument this time. The thought of sending Oliver away to preschool right now was just horrible. He was still practically a baby! She opened the door and was greeted by Flynn.

"Good morning, Lady Estellise. I hope I'm not early. I finished my work and decided to leave my office before the next batch came in."

"Oh, no, it's so good to see you, Flynn!" She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. As usual, Flynn stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do with his arms. Flynn always seemed vaguely uncomfortable when she hugged him, which Rita said was because he was too uptight to handle being buddy-buddy with royalty. Estelle was pretty sure she was right, since Flynn also continually refused to call her anything but the formal 'Lady Estellise', but Estelle figured that the best way to get him over this was to just keep hugging him until he got used to it. After ten years, this had not yet been successful, but she saw no reason to give up yet.

She led him in, and then returned to the stove to check on her vichyssoise.

"So, how is Oliver doing?" Flynn asked.

"Fine," Rita said in a clipped tone.

Estelle glanced over her shoulder, but it didn't seem like she was going to continue their argument now that they had company over. Estelle was thankful, but she really treasured the days they could get the group together and didn't want to ruin it arguing. Flynn glanced between them, obviously figuring out that something was wrong, but he didn't press the issue.

"How is work going, Flynn?" Estelle asked.

"Very well, thank you."

Estelle busied herself in the kitchen while Flynn chatted with Rita. She took the vichyssoise off the heat and transferred it into the icebox to chill it. There was a clatter as Oliver's blocks fell over, and then he giggled and started stacking them up again. It was nice that he was old enough now to entertain himself without her constantly watching him, but that didn't mean he was old enough to go to preschool. She chopped up a cucumber for a salad, silently fuming.

Rita was always so obsessed with Oliver's education. Estelle loved the fact that Rita was so smart, but she wished Rita would slow down and realize that not everyone was going to learn things at the same pace she did, and that not learning his multiplication tables by age four didn't mean he was a useless idiot. She knew that she wasn't as smart as Rita, but it hurt her feelings when Rita so bluntly pointed it out, especially when Rita wasn't even trying to insult her.

"Lady Estellise, are you alright?"

Estelle paused, realizing she'd been cutting the cucumber quite violently. She looked back and forced a smile. "Oh, um, yes, I'm fine. It was a tough cucumber."

There came another knock at the door, and her face brightened. "That must be Yuri and Judith!" She rushed to the door and opened it with a huge smile. "Hello!" she said, greeting Judith first while Yuri lurked behind her. "How was your – Judith! Your belly!" Her eyes were glued to Judith's stomach, which was very obviously flat. It took a couple seconds for her to work out this odd turn of events. There was clearly no longer a baby inside Judith's stomach, which could only mean… Her eyes drifted to the basket in Judith's arms and she gasped. "Oh, Judith!"

Judith smiled and held the basket over for Estelle to see. Nestled in a pile of blankets was a tiny sleeping baby, with cute little pointy ears sticking out through holes poked in the side of one of Oliver's old hats.

"What's his name? Or her name?" Estelle asked quickly. Behind her, Rita had spun around in her chair while Flynn sat upright and stared across the room in surprise.

"Her name is Joanna," Judith said. "Although we mostly call her Jo." She walked into the room and set the basket down on the table.

Estelle rushed over to look down at the baby, while Flynn and Rita leaned over the table to look for themselves. Only when she heard the couch cushions creak did she look over and see that Yuri had dragged himself in, not even bothering to make sure the door was fully closed, and flopped down on the couch with his eyes closed. She frowned. "Yuri, are you ok?"

"No," he groaned, pulling a couch pillow over his face.

Estelle's heart plummeted as fear spiked. If Yuri was _admitting_ to not being ok, he must be in serious trouble. "Hold on, I'll heal you!"

"I wouldn't worry about it, Estelle," Judith said. "He's just got a hangover."

Estelle's fire died down. "Oh."

"Seriously, Yuri?" Flynn said.

"Shut up, Flynn," Yuri grumbled back.

"So, when was she born?" Rita asked, her attention on the baby now that she was satisfied that Yuri wasn't in any danger.

"Just yesterday," Judith said. "She was born in Mantaic."

"She's beautiful," Flynn said. "I'm very pleased that her birth went without trouble."

"Are these antenna normal for Krityan babies?" Rita asked.

"Not exactly," Judith said. "They're normally a fair bit longer. Hers seem a little stunted."

"Fascinating," Rita said.

Judith frowned. "I'm still not letting you perform experiments on her, Rita."

Rita scowled at her.

Flynn looked over at Yuri. "So, let me guess, Yuri, you went out to a bar to celebrate and overestimated yourself? And get your boots off the couch."

Without moving the rest of his body, Yuri tried to kick his boots off. He failed pretty miserably. It was almost sad to see him try so hard by fail so completely. Flynn rolled his eyes and looked to Estelle. "He's always like this. He's usually pretty good at holding his liquor, so on the times he actually does get a bad hangover he doesn't know how to handle himself." Flynn took pity on him and walked over to yank the boots off for him. He gripped the sole and whacked Yuri across the chest with the top of the boot. "You're pathetic."

Yuri swore, which was thankfully muffled by the pillow still pressed to his face. Estelle glared at him nonetheless, because Oliver was watching them with interest and he was at the age where he was excited to learn any new word. "That _hurt_, Flynn, dammit," Yuri groaned.

"What? I barely hit you." Flynn reached down and pulled Yuri's perpetually opened shirt aside. His frown deepened when an ugly bruise across his chest was revealed. "Yuri," he said in displeasure, "did you get into a fight?"

"Oh, no, are you ok, Yuri?" Estelle asked, clasping her hands over her chest. She was torn between her desire to help Yuri or fawn over the new baby, but right now Yuri was winning. She started to hurry over, but Judith grabbed her arm.

"Yuri thought it would be a great idea to go out drinking last night and then start a fight. If you heal him, he won't learn his lesson."

Yuri lowered the pillow from his face to glare at her, and Estelle saw how beat up he really was. He heart ached. "Oh… but… he looks like he's really in pain."

"Yes," Judith said. "That's what happens to you when you take your infant daughter to a bar and then start a brawl."

"You took Jo?!" Flynn turned to him with a look of anger. "I didn't expect you to be _that_ much of an idiot!" He swung the boot at Yuri again, whacking him across the face.

Yuri groaned and held his hands over his ears. "Argh… stop shouting."

"How could you have taken her to a bar?!" Flynn demanded. "That is no place for an infant."

Judith pulled Jo out of her basket, her plan for revenge complete. Flynn would take over punishing Yuri from here.

"Are you sure I can't just heal him a little bit?" Estelle said, looking to Judith pleadingly.

"Later," Judith said. "If he thinks he can get instantly healed whenever he injures himself, he'll never learn to be more cautious."

"You're one to talk," Yuri grumbled.

Estelle understood Judith's reasoning to a point. It did alarm her how frequently Yuri showed up in need of healing, but sitting back and not doing anything while he was clearly in pain was tearing her apart. Rita, meanwhile, was busy laughing at Yuri as Flynn berated him.

Judith sat at the table with Jo in her lap. Estelle sat next to her, hoping to distract herself with the new baby so she wouldn't have to worry about Yuri.

"So how was your first night?" Estelle asked. "I mean, once Yuri brought her home. Did she keep you up all night?"

"Oh, it wasn't too bad," Judith said. "She woke up a couple times when she was hungry but then went right back to sleep."

"Really?" Rita said, looking over. "That's lucky. Most babies cry every night for months."

"Oh, is that normal?" Judith said. "I thought Oliver was simply especially annoying. Krityan babies tend to be fairly quiet."

Rita snorted. "I guess the ability to be unfazed by anything starts at birth."

"I thought you said you were going to be more responsible!" Flynn was shouting. "She could have gotten seriously hurt."

"She's fine!" Yuri said. "For the love of all that is holy, _shut up_ Flynn."

Estelle looked over at them with a frown, and then tried to turn her attention back to Jo. "She's wearing Oliver's clothes. Have you not been able to go out and get your own?"

"Not yet," Judith said. "We need to stock up on diapers too, I think. We kept putting that off, thinking we would have more time, but then she came early."

Flynn was saying, "You wouldn't feel this awful if you hadn't been a moron!"

"Yes! Noted!" Yuri said. "Now shut up before my head explodes."

"Ugh, buy more diapers than you think you need," Rita said. "You will be amazed at how fast you go through them."

"You shouldn't complain, Rita," Estelle said. "You're at work all day, so I do most of the diaper changing."

"Which is why you should be pleased with the idea of getting him out of the house and looked after by someone else."

"Please don't bring this up now," Estelle said.

"What's this?" Judith asked, looking between them. "What about getting Oliver out of the house?"

Estelle said nothing, because she didn't want to go into this with Judith, but Rita said, "I want to give Oliver a headstart in pre-school, but Estelle is being clingy and wants to keep him home with her as long as possible."

Estelle took a deep breath and glared at Rita as angrily as she could. "I'm not being clingy! I just don't think he's ready."

"Ugh," Yuri groaned, "Estelle, don't you start shouting too."

"You agree with me, right, Judith?" Rita said.

Judith looked between them, and then said, "I don't think I want to take a side in this."

Oliver, who has realized he was not the centre of attention, toddled over to the edge of the couch and tried to climb up onto Yuri's chest. "Up," he said, grabbing Yuri's torso and trying to pull himself up.

He put pressure on one of Yuri's many painful bruises, causing him to instinctively shove Oliver away with a loud shout of, "Oh, _fuck_, ow!"

"Yuri!" Estelle said, whirling around in her seat. "You can't say that in front of Oliver!"

Oliver fell over from Yuri pushing him, falling on his butt. Oliver started up at Yuri in shock for a few seconds, not understanding why his beloved uncle had so rudely shoved him away. He expressed this confusion by crying.

"Dammit!" Yuri said, pulling the pillow over his face again. "Somebody make him stop!"

"You're the one who made him cry, Yuri!" Flynn said.

Estelle stood up with her fists balled at her side, finally losing her temper with Yuri. She had finally fully sided with Judith on her stance of not healing Yuri's injuries. He'd done something very stupid and he needed to learn not to be so reckless… at least for now. She would heal him in an hour or so. That should be sufficient time to get her point across, she thought. "Yuri, you need to be more careful with Oliver! And you should be more careful with Jo, too! Flynn is right – she could have gotten very hurt!"

"But she didn't, so drop it," Yuri said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "Karol took care of her."

"And you just pushed Oliver!"

"He's fine, Estelle," Rita said. "It's not like Yuri did it on purpose. Oliver can handle falling down every now and then. You should stop babying him."

"I am not babying him! I'm being a good mother!"

Another wail hit the room, as all the shouting woke Jo up. Krityan babies may be more relaxed in general, but Jo was only half-Krityan and the room was pretty loud and angry by now.

"Shhh," Judith said, bouncing her in her arms.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry!" Estelle said, rushing back to Judith's side. "I didn't mean to wake her up."

Yuri pressed his hands firmly against his ears and said, "Somebody, please, just kill me. I think it would be less painful."

Judith tilted her head thoughtfully, as if she was actually considering it. Then she said, "I wouldn't want to get blood all over Rita and Judith's couch."

"Estelle, please," Yuri said, barely heard above the screaming baby. Oliver at least had stopped crying when he realized no one was rushing to his side, because they were all too busy arguing. "I'm dying here."

Estelle set her face in a determined frown. "No, Yuri, Judith is right. Besides, I don't think I can heal a hangover."

"Dammit, Judy, I get it, you're mad," Yuri said. "I'm sorry I took her out, ok? I already got beat up, isn't that enough for you?"

"Here, Judith, let me hold her," Estelle said. "I've had a lot of experience getting babies to stop crying."

"I think I've got it," Judith said, rocking her back and forth.

"If you're sure."

"Estelle, leave Judith alone," Rita said. "Stop being such a mother hen."

"Stop it, Rita, I said I didn't want to argue about this right now!"

"Flynn," Rita said, "you think I'm right, right? Oliver is old enough to start some sort of preschool."

Flynn looked between Rita and Estelle and faltered, not wanting to antagonize either of them. "Ah… I think that's a decision best left to the two of you."

"Don't be such a coward!" Rita said.

"Don't force him to answer!" Estelle said. "He doesn't need to be part of this. He's right, we should discuss this later, when we don't have company."

"You just don't want to talk about it because you know I'm right!"

She had to raise her voice to be heard of both Jo's wailing and Yuri's desperate pleas for everyone to shut up before his head exploded. Flynn responded by yelling at Yuri for bringing this on himself by being an irresponsible parent, backed up by Judith. Rita and Estelle kept raising their voices to be heard over both Jo and the argument between Yuri, Judith, and Flynn, who in turn raised their voices to be heard over Rita and Estelle. The ever increasing volume in the room aggravated Jo further, who made her displeasure with this turn of events known by screaming her lungs out, but everyone was too busy screaming at each other to do anything about her.

Estelle's throat was going hoarse, because she didn't have very much experience at shouting this much. She and Rita rarely argued earnestly, and when they did they usually kept it civil. She kept her ears open for Yuri's argument, too, so she could interject every now and then to agree with Flynn or Judith. She couldn't imagine how upset she'd be if Rita had taken Oliver to a bar when he was still a newborn. That was completely irresponsible parenting!

…Speaking of irresponsible parenting, it suddenly occurred to her that Oliver hadn't joined in the screaming with a tantrum of his own, which was unusual.

"…and if you actually cared about his education and not just your own attachment to him, you'd agree with me!" Rita screamed.

Estelle didn't respond, because she was busy scanning the room. Oliver wasn't in the living room. He wasn't in the kitchen, either. Where had he gone? To the nursery? With dread rising in her heart, she glanced at the front door, which she suddenly remembered Yuri hadn't fully closed. She'd been too caught up in excitement over the new baby to worry about it, but now… the door was a couple feet open. Oh no. Oh _no_.

She took a deep breath and as loud as she could she screamed, "Everybody _stop_!"

The room froze, save for Jo. All eyes turned to her and she said, "Has anybody seen Oliver?"

They all looked around, the horror rising on their faces as well. Rita said, "He must be in the nursery." She dashed to the door, while Estelle attempted to calm her panic. Rita returned and said, "Dammit he's not there!"

"I'll search the other rooms," Flynn said. Estelle joined him, and together the three of them searched every room in the apartment. It didn't take long, and there was no sign of Oliver. They reconvened in the main room, where Judith had finally managed to get Jo to stop crying.

"He's not here," Estelle said. "Oh no, oh no, he went out the front door and nobody noticed him. I'm a horrible mother."

"No, you're not," Rita said. "I didn't notice him leave either."

"It's alright, Lady Estellise," Flynn said. "There are guards patrolling the perimeter of the castle. He can't possible have left the building. We'll find him."

"Yes," Estelle said. "Yes, we will. Let's split into two groups and search for him." She glanced at Rita. She didn't want to be alone with Rita right now, because she was so tired of arguing and she didn't want to be mad at her any more. But if she was with her, she probably would stay mad. "I'll go with you, Flynn."

"Very well. Judith, you and Miss Mordio will search the western half of the castle and Lady Estellise and I will search the eastern. Is that acceptable?"

"Of course." Judith stood up and put Jo back into her basket. She carried the basket across the room and put it down next to Yuri. "Yuri, we're going out, watch over Jo."

Yuri nodded slowly. "I will," he said in as firm a voice as he could muster.

Estelle smiled a bit. They were all mad at him and he looked pretty pathetic in his injured and hungover state, but that tone of voice said so much more to Estelle. She understood it to mean, 'dammit, I know I messed up, but you can trust me to do it right this time and I will protect this baby if my life depends on it.' Estelle didn't know what sort of life-threatening danger Jo might face within their apartment, but the sentiment was sweet.

They couldn't waste any more time here. Oliver was out in the castle somewhere, and they had to find him. "Come on, Flynn!" She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out of the room. "Let's go!"


	14. Lost and Found

**Chapter Fourteen: Lost and Found**

"Judith hurry up, we might miss him if he's somewhere!" They had decided to search the hallways in case he was wandering around aimlessly, but they were going to miss him if they didn't speed up.

"Going any faster won't change anything." She hung back about ten feet, walking down the hallway at a more casual pace.

"Yes it will, we'll find him sooner like that." Rita turned around, continuing walking backwards.

"If we go too fast, we might miss him by passing somewhere before he gets there," Judith explained.

"Yes but if we get there sooner-" She hesitated and considered what she was saying, and clicked that it didn't matter either way. "Sorry, it's just… I'm really worried about him."

"I can understand that." Judith caught up to her and turned a corner. "I think worrying about your child's safety is natural."

"I know. Dammit." She ground her teeth as they walked into a different empty hallway. "Estelle already won't let him out of her sight, he's not going to learn anything if she doesn't let go."

"Is this about your argument earlier?"

"She's being completely unreasonable, he has to go out and do something without her eventually." No Oliver in the next corridor either. "He can't stay home forever, he needs to make his own mistakes and learn without somebody hovering behind him."

"And Estelle wants him to stay at home where she can protect him?" If anything, Judith was a great listener, and could take an unbiased stance to let someone vent.

"Exactly! But she can't keep doing that forever, he won't be able to function without her." She grumbled, irritation with Estelle adding on to the frustration that Oliver was still missing. "Like now. We'll find him and he'll be safe even though we all worried. But she'll take this to mean she should give him even less freedom."

"But she's only worrying about Oliver, right? Making sure he doesn't get hurt."

"That's not the point. He won't get hurt if he just goes to school and sees somebody other than her all day. She did so much better after she travelled a little, and I don't want to see him turn into that same naïve ditz."

"Are you saying you have a problem with Estelle's personality?" Judith raised an eyebrow.

"You're missing the point!" Rita stopped to take a deep breath. "She was really…clueless, when we first met. You saw it too. Getting out before he's eighteen will be good for him."

"Do you think he should be more like you, then?"

"Not at all, that might be worse. I don't even remember my parents, I left for Aspio when I was ten and lived there. That's not what I want for him either." She turned to a set of stairs going down. "We've been through this floor, let's check down here."

"Then what do you want for him?"

"I don't know, something more normal. He can't live a completely normal life, but that doesn't mean he should stay holed up forever." Rita shook her head and sighed. "This would be easier if Estelle would just listen, she just goes off in her own perfect world where Oliver stays home forever not pulling anything like this. She doesn't compromise, she expects it to be the way she wants it."

"And you've told her this?"

"Of course, you heard us." She looked away, regretting having raised her voice like that.

"I'm sure the entire floor heard you. But I asked if you've actually told Estelle that you find it hard to compromise with her."

"Well…"

"I thought as much." Judith smiled down at her. "You're both rather hard headed."

"Thanks for that," she grumbled.

"Yuri has the same problem, he doesn't like to talk. He'd rather act." Her tone stiffened.

"You mean the bar?" She took her silence as a yes. "I'm not going to tell you to forgive him, but people make mistakes. It could've gone worse."

"That's exactly why he shouldn't have gone."

"He's still hurt, and Jo is fine." Normally she'd say Judith and Estelle couldn't be any more different, but they were both worried about another parent taking their kid out and being irresponsible. "Isn't that enough?"

"I suppose it should be," she said. "But what if he does it again?"

"I'm pretty sure Yuri's learned his lesson about bars."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Judith said. "But what about other situations? You know how Yuri is. He always thinks he knows the best way to do something, and he runs off without consulting anyone else. That's fine for him, but when it involves Jo, I need to know that we're together. I'm afraid he's going to just make decisions about what to do with her without consulting me."

"And you don't trust him?"

"I trust him, I just don't know if I'll always agree with him. I'm angry at him for stupidly taking her to a bar, but even more than that, I'm worried that this is the first sign that he's going to make parenting decisions all on his own, when we're supposed to be doing this together."

Rita thought about this. She'd love to console Judith and tell her not to be so paranoid, but she could definitely see where this worry was coming from. Yuri had a bad habit of trying to take on everything by himself. "Same thing you said to me. Just tell him how you feel."

"Yes, but unlike Estelle, catching Yuri in the mood to talk about feelings is a fleeting chance."

"Ok, so sit him down and shout at him until he listens. That seems to be how Flynn handles him."

"Hm…" Judith didn't say anything right away, just stared ahead thoughtfully.

Rita took her silence as a chance to refocus her efforts of looking for Oliver, although that probably wasn't necessary. The castle corridors were shining and spotless; a two year old wandering around would stick out like a sore thumb. How could they lose him like this!? It was so frustrating. She was going to kill Yuri for leaving the door open.

"You know," Judith said, "I sort of feel hypocritical about getting frustrated with Yuri for making bad parenting decisions, because I don't feel like I'm an expert myself. I really don't know what to do with Jo."

"Uh… babies aren't that hard," Rita said. "When they cry, feed them. They sleep most of the time. Trust me, you're already doing better than Yuri."

"Thank you for the encouragement, but it's hard to see myself as the mother type. I don't think I'm really any better than Yuri." She frowned. "Neither of us really know what we're doing, and Yuri's tryst was a harsh reminder of that."

"So… you're scared?" Rita asked. She really didn't know what to say, because so many of her formative years were spent talking to inanimate blastia so she still felt fairly awkward when it came to having serious conversations about feelings. She wanted to help Judith the way Judith helped her, but talking to people was _hard_.

"Yes, I suppose so," Judith said. "I thought we could handle this, but Jo is only a day old and already things have gotten out of control."

"If it makes you feel better, I was pretty scared when Oliver was born, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure. They just hand you this tiny human being and say 'go take care of it'. Babies don't come with instruction manuals and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with him."

"Oliver seems to have turned out just fine."

"Yeah, that's my point. Estelle and I were panicking those first few weeks, but eventually we just fell into a groove and figured it out as we went along. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with him."

"Oliver seems to have turned out just fine."

"Yeah, that's my point. Estelle and I were panicking those first few weeks, but eventually we just fell into a groove and figured it out as we went along. You and Yuri will figure it out, don't worry."

Judith smiled. "Thank you, Rita."

"You should still talk to Yuri, though. He'll probably think you're just mad about the bar unless you tell him what you're really worried about."

"You're right." She sighed. "Why did we both have to fall for such ridiculous people?"

"It's not like Estelle is ridiculous all the time. She just gets stubborn." They might've put a loud argument aside for now, but Estelle was still Estelle.

"I'm sure you two will be okay."

"We'll figure it out." They always figured it out, even if it was an important decision like this. "What about you and Yuri?"

"He'll come around." Judith smiled again, possibly lost in some thought. "I'll make sure he doesn't pull anything like that again."

Rita stopped at another set of stairs. "Should we stay up here, or check another floor?"

"I don't think our chances change either way."

"Thanks for the decision." She had a fleeting, fearful thought that if they didn't find Oliver they wouldn't have to worry about preschool at all. She quickly pushed that out of her mind. They were going to find him. He couldn't have gone far – he had very short legs. She forced her worries aside and pushed onward, determined to find him soon.

* * *

"I'm a terrible mother," Estelle said when they hadn't found Oliver after fifteen minutes.

"No, you're not," Flynn said. "None of the rest of us noticed him slipping out, either. Besides, it was Yuri who left the door open."

"I know, but…"

"I still can't believe he took Jo to a bar. That seems too irresponsible, even for him."

Estelle wanted to think the best of him, so she said, "He said Karol took care of her, so it's not like he was there with her alone. I'm sure he wouldn't have let himself get drunk if Karol wasn't there to look after her."

"That's true, but I'm still mad at him," Flynn said. "He told me he was going to be more responsible and he was going to do his best to be a good father, but then he goes and pulls this shi-… this nonsense." He cast a quick glanced at Estelle to see if she'd noticed that he'd almost used dirty language in front of the princess. Estelle pretended she hadn't.

"I think… this is really hard for him," she said. "Yuri's never had this kind of responsibility before. He's only been a dad for twenty-four hours, so I think we should give him some slack. He'll learn, but becoming a parent doesn't just happen overnight."

"Technically, it does," Flynn said. "That's exactly how it works. You become a parent the instant you have a child."

"You know what I mean!" She lightly smacked his shoulder. "Besides, by that logic he was already a parent the moment Oliver was born."

"Technically…"

"Flynn!"

Flynn smiled a bit. "I'm sorry, Lady Estellise. I do know what you're trying to say."

"I didn't know what I was doing at first either," Estelle said. They walked outside into the courtyard garden. Oliver loved flowers, so maybe he'd come out here? "I had an entire week in the hospital with nurses all over me giving me advice every minute of the day, but it sounds like Yuri and Judith didn't get that."

"Maybe I should go to Dahngrest," Flynn said. "Just for the first week or so to help them out."

Estelle smiled and shook her head. "Oh, Flynn, you don't need to do that." Flynn was always so eager to bend over backwards to help people, which was one of the things she loved about him. "But aren't you always saying you have way too much work to take any sort of vacation?"

"Well…"

"Just give them time. They'll figure things out as they go along. I think Yuri is a lot more reliable than you give him credit for." She looked around the path in case Oliver was lurking under the bushes. No luck.

"I suppose you're right," Flynn said. "It's just really hard for me to imagine him as a responsible father. You haven't known him as long as I have. When I look at him, I still see the stupid fifteen-year-old who found an abandoned shopping cart and decided that the most logical thing to do was race it down a hill."

Estelle covered her mouth as she giggled a bit. "How did that work out?"

"He crashed into a wall and broke his wrist, which is what I _told_ him would happen, but he refused to listen to me. And _then_ he kept trying to cook one-handed and nearly burned the kitchen down because he wouldn't let me help him."

Estelle could understand perfectly why Yuri had been willing to risk cooking with one broken wrist rather than accept food from Flynn, but she decided not to mention this. "I'm sure he's matured since then."

"I know," Flynn said. "But he'll always be stupid, impulsive Yuri to me."

They reached the other side of the garden and re-entered the castle. "I think Yuri will be a very good dad once he figures out what he's doing," Estelle said.

"I think so, too," Flynn said. "It's what he does while he's still figuring things out that I'm worried about." They paused at a T-intersection, and Flynn said, "I think we should go this way."

"Ok," Estelle said, and they turned right. All the corridors were basically the same. She knew Oliver couldn't possibly have left the castle, but she hated the idea of him wandering around this corridors and getting lost. What if he was trying to get back but couldn't and now he was scared? Her heart panged. "Where could he be?" she asked. "He couldn't have gotten far… he's still so little…"

"I'm sure he's fine, Lady Estellise," Flynn said. "The castle is very safe."

"I suppose…" she frowned. "Flynn, do you think I'm overprotective?"

"Pardon?"

"Rita wants to send Oliver to preschool, but I just don't think he's ready. And she accused me of just wanting to keep him home and… to be honest, I think that is partially it." She hung her head. "For two years, it's just been me and him all day. And before we had him, Rita usually worked from home. But now she's established in her lab and I don't think she'd want to come back to working from the study at home, and I'm afraid I'd be so lonely if Oliver wasn't home all day. I was so alone growing up here and I – I don't want to go back to that!" She hesitated, almost afraid of letting Flynn answer her. "Flynn, do you think I'm being selfish?"

"Not-"

"Please don't lie because you don't want to offend me. I would appreciate it more if you gave me your honest opinion."

Flynn hesitated. "If that was your only reason, then yes, I would think that was selfish."

Estelle's heart clenched. "I see."

"However, I'm certain there is more to your decision than simply not wanting to be alone. I agree that two years old seems a bit young to send him to preschool."

Estelle nodded quickly. "Yes, exactly!"

Flynn looked over at her with a warm smile. "In all the years I've known you, Lady Estellise, you have never given me a reason to believe you are selfish. I think you're making a decision based on what you honestly think is best for Oliver, but since it also benefits you, you're worried that that is the _only_ reason you're making this decision."

Estelle nodded slowly. Believing that made her feel much better. "So, you think I'm right, then? Oliver shouldn't go to preschool?"

"I'm far from an expert on childcare, so don't take my word as concrete. I don't think it would hurt him, but I don't think it's necessary. There's a lot to be gained from starting academics early, but there's also a lot to be gained from keeping him home and focusing on his emotional development."

"And if he doesn't learn to read until he's six or seven, that's not a huge problem, right?" Estelle hadn't learned until that age, and now she was a voracious reader so she didn't think it was that big a deal.

"I wouldn't think so," Flynn said. "Yuri and I both learned later than that. The literacy rate in the Lower Quarter is significantly lower than in the rest of Zaphias."

Estelle nodded. "I understand that academics are really important to Rita, and I think some sort of preschool could be good for him, but I don't think he'll be ready for at least another year or two."

"Talk to Rita about it. If you phrase it as 'not this year' instead of 'absolutely not', I think you can come to a compromise." He smiled and added, "And, if you find that you're lonely during the day without Oliver, I wouldn't mind if you came and read a book in my office, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, Flynn," she wrapped herself around his arm and leaned on his shoulder with a big, happy smile. "You're so sweet. Thank you."

"Ah, it's no problem, Lady Estellise."

"Commandant!"

Estelle dislodged herself from Flynn and turned around to see a knight hurrying toward them. He saluted when he met them and said, "I was asked to inform you that Major Sodia is waiting for you in your office with Prince Oliver."

Estelle's face lit up. "She found him!"

"Thank you very much," Flynn said with a smile. He looked to Estelle and said, "See? I told you they'd find him."

"I'm so glad. Let's go." She grabbed Flynn's hand and dragged him down the hall.

Flynn looked back at the knight as he was dragged along, saying, "Thank you for informing me! Could you please search the western half of the castle for Miss Mordio and her Krityan companion and inform them what has happened and to meet us back at Lady Estellise's suite?"

"Right away, sir!"

Estelle was glad Flynn had thought to let Rita and Judith know, since she was too preoccupied with rushing toward Oliver to think about anything else. They rushed through the halls, shiny corridor after shiny corridor passing in a whir until she found herself outside Flynn's doors. She didn't even wait for Flynn to open the door for her and barged into his office.

"Oliver!"

Oliver lay on his stomach, scribbling on a paper with an orange crayon. Sodia sat by Flynn's desk, standing up the moment they came in. "Good day, Lady Estellise," she said, nodding her head respectfully.

"Oh, Oliver, sweetie, you worried me so much!" Estelle swooped down on Oliver and scooped him up in her arms. He was getting heavy, but she could still lift him.

"Where did you find him?" Flynn asked.

"He was wandering in the corridors," Sodia said. "I escorted him back to your suite, Lady Estellise, but nobody was home so I brought him here and decided to wait for you, Commandant."

"Thank you so much," Estelle said. Oliver wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder.

"It was no trouble."

"Someone should have been home, though," Estelle said. "We left Yuri behind with Jo."

Sodia looked a bit confused. "If I may ask, who is Jo?"

"Oh, I never told you," Flynn said. "It must have slipped my mind. Jo – Joanna Lowell – is Yuri's new daughter."

Sodia stared at him in shock. "Yuri Lowell has… a child?"

"Yes," Estelle said. "She was born just yesterday!" She knew Yuri and Sodia didn't get along, although she had never understood exactly why. She thought they were actually very similar people, but when she'd brought that up to Yuri once he'd immediately rejected it.

"I see," Sodia said. "Well, he didn't answer the door when I knocked."

"He must be asleep," Flynn said. "Thank you very much for your assistance, Sodia. We should be heading back now. I'll be back to take care of this afternoon's work in half an hour or so."

"Very well, sir. I'll leave it on your desk."

Estelle put Oliver down to let him walk, since her arms were getting tired. "Never do that again, ok?" she said. "You had us all very worried."

"Ok," Oliver said.

"What do you say when you make people upset?"

"Sorry."

"That's right. Now, let's go home." She took his hand and led him out of the office.

They made it back before Rita and Judith, and when they walked in, they found Yuri sound asleep on the couch. He must have moved somewhat, though, because Jo was out of her basket and curled up on his chest, fast asleep. One of Yuri's arms was wrapped around her, holding her steady.

"Aw," Estelle said, looking down at them with a smile. "They're so cute together. I don't have the heart to wake him."

"I do," Flynn said. He carefully picked Jo up and said, "Hey, Yuri, get up."

Yuri groaned a bit and then his eyes flickered open. "…You find Oliver?"

"We did!" Estelle said happily. When Yuri winced at her loud tone, she whispered, "Oops. Sorry."

Yuri patted his chest, suddenly realizing a weight was missing. His groggy expression flashed alert and he looked around in a panic. "Where's-?"

"I've got her, Yuri," Flynn said.

"Oh." He let himself relax. "Good."

"Yuri, we have a spare bedroom. Why don't you go take a nap in there? I'm sure it's a lot more comfortable than the couch."

"That's a good idea."

Flynn set Jo down in the basket on the ground, and then held out his hand and helped Yuri up. He moved stiffly, since he was still sore from the fight. Estelle glanced guiltily at the door, as if expecting Judith to walk through any second now, and then charged up her magic and held her hand out to his chest. She cured the worst of his injuries, and he visibly relaxed once she was done.

"Thanks, Estelle," he said. He paused only to look down at Jo in the basket and smile affectionately, and then he shambled away to the spare bedroom to sleep off the rest of his hangover.

"Why there baby?"

Estelle looked down and saw Oliver crouched next to Jo's basket. "Oh, Oliver, we haven't properly introduced you yet." She knelt next to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Oliver, this is Jo. She's Uncle Yuri's daughter. She's your…" she hesitated, wondering what the right word was. "Cousin," she settled on. Technically, Jo was his half-sister. But, they had already decided that exactly who Oliver's father was didn't matter.

Oliver stared at the new baby with curiosity. He frowned, and then reached out and tugged on her ear. "Baby looks funny."

"Oliver!" Estelle gently pulled his hand away while Jo squirmed in her sleep, her face scrunching up. "Don't pull on her ears, and don't say she looks funny. That's mean."

Oliver looked up at her and pouted. "But ears are weird."

"Yes, I know," Estelle said. "She has ears like Aunt Judith does. But, it isn't very nice to say people look funny. You wouldn't like it if someone told you that _you_ look funny, would you?"

"Uh…" Oliver thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "No."

"Right, because that's very mean."

"Ok," he said, and then asked, "Is baby staying?"

Estelle wasn't quite sure what he meant by that. She tried to explain as clearly as she could, "Jo is going to stay with Uncle Yuri and Aunt Judith. You'll see her lots of times when they come to visit. Do you understand?"

"Mmm…" Oliver grabbed the edge of the blanket and stared down at Jo with a look of intense concentration. Then he nodded and said, "Ok."

Estelle smiled, glad that Jo had Oliver's approval.

"Now then," Flynn said with a cheerful smile, "why don't we try some of that vichyssoise until Judith and Miss Mordio return?"

"Oh, Flynn, if you call it that you can have the entire pot!"

* * *

Oliver had been put to bed, tired out from his adventure. He fell asleep soon after being laid down, a rare occasion where he didn't cry or try to get out of bed at all. This left one thing to do before the day ended.

"Estelle, we should talk." Rita closed the door to Oliver's room quietly.

"What about?" She looked up from her book innocently as if she had forgotten the rest of the day. It wasn't the first time she tried to dodge a difficult topic by ignoring it.

"You know what. It's about Oliver." She sat next to her, carefully choosing her words before she spoke.

"It doesn't matter, we can talk about it tomorrow if you want." Estelle shifted away slightly and became much more interested in the open book.

"No, now." Rita reached around to take the book from her and set it on the cushion next to her. "This is important."

"I just really don't want to argue right now."

"Neither do I." She pushed her arm between the couch and Estelle's back to pull her in closely. "I'm sorry about what I said, okay?"

Estelle's tensed shoulders relaxed as she leaned in, resting a hand on Rita's forearm. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said you don't care. If you didn't care you wouldn't have gone looking for him the way you did today."

"And I know you just want him to grow up well." Neither she nor Estelle had enviable childhoods, and they disagreed on how to give him what they hadn't had. All they needed to do was talk it over and decide how best to keep him from becoming an awkward recluse.

"I was thinking a little bit about preschool," Estelle admitted. "Flynn said he thought it could be good for him, but I still don't know about it…"

"And I think he should. That's why we need to talk. If we're both this stubborn, nothing is going to happen." Plus, if they dropped the topic entirely and did nothing, Estelle would get her way again, and they wouldn't get anywhere. Rita didn't mind making allowances, but she couldn't keep expecting to sit back and just have everything happen perfectly.

"Lots of children don't go to preschool, he'll be okay if he doesn't." Estelle leaned in closer.

"It's not about being in school. Just think about it, he's here all day with you, and it's great that you're building a strong relationship with him. But he needs to learn how to interact with strangers, and to be in a group like that."

Estelle was silent for a long while, and Rita let her think it over, sitting quietly until she was sure she had dozed off. She considered shaking her when she finally got a response. "Are you sure it's a good idea?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I thought it wouldn't have a positive result." Especially not if the hypothesis affected their son.

"I still think he's too young. But…" Estelle trailed off. "If you still think it'll be good for him next year, we can look into schools."

"And you won't fight about letting him go?"

"I'll miss having him around all day, but he won't be here forever. And he'll come back home when it's done."

"See, it's not so bad."

"If anything happens, he's staying home."

"You're worrying too much, it'll be fine." She rested her head on her shoulder. "Calm down, you lived through more dangerous things than school."

"But where should he go? Most noble children are taught early by private tutors, not a public school system."

"Then find something in the public quarter if you have to, he'll be fine."

"But he's a prince."

"And he's a kid, I don't think he cares."

Estelle was silent for a moment. "We have a year to find a school," she said slowly. "He can go if we find somewhere safe."

"Alright, we'll find one then."

"I'm going to bed now. Are we done talking?"

"Yeah, I'll go with you." She sat up and let her go.

"I really am sorry about earlier, Rita…" Estelle didn't get up.

"Don't worry about it, it's over." She took her hand to pull her off the couch. "Just sleep it off and it'll be fine tomorrow."

"I don't want to fight like that again."

* * *

"Are you really planning on going to bed without talking?" Judith asked.

Yuri paused in front of the bed, his shirt halfway off his body. With his arms still in the air and his head barely peeking out through the neck hole, he turned around. "Uh… we talked all afternoon, didn't we?"

"You know what I mean," Judith said, sitting at the table with her arms crossed.

Yuri had to admit that he did. He'd woken up in the mid-afternoon to find his headache thankfully gone, and enjoyed a couple hours of hanging out with his friends while his head was not exploding before heading home. All the way home and through dinner, he and Judith had chatted about a variety of things, from how urgent it was to buy Jo some proper clothes (Judith didn't want to dress her in Oliver's hand-me-downs for too much longer, while Yuri didn't much care) to whether or not bacon soup sounded like a brilliant idea or a punishment upon all mankind (Yuri was eager to try it, while Judith threatened to take Jo and leave him if he so much as considered cooking that abomination in their kitchen). The one thing Yuri had purposefully avoiding talking about was his trip to the bar the night before.

He pulled his shirt the rest of the way off and tossed it aside, and then sat down on the side of the bed. "What is there to talk about? What happened, happened."

"Yes, but is it going to happen again?"

"No." It had been many years since he'd drunk enough to create such a killer hangover, and he had no intention of doing that again any time soon.

Judith read his expression and said, "I'm not talking about drinking a lot. You can do that whenever you want. I'm talking about taking Jo places without telling me and then trying to hide it from me, especially if the place could be dangerous."

Yuri leaned forward. "I know it was stupid, Judy. It really wasn't supposed to get that bad, but I can promise it won't happen again."

"We can't know that for sure," Judith said. She leaned forward on the table, staring at the crib they'd borrowed from the innkeeper. "Neither of us know what we're doing. I suppose you could say I'm worried, Yuri. What if something happens to her because of our negligence?"

Yuri frowned. He knew that taking a baby to a bar had probably been misguided, but the idea that he would ever let any real harm come to Jo came as a shock. "That's not going to happen," he said firmly.

"I don't know how to take care of her," Judith said. "And I don't think you do, either."

"Weren't you the one trying to tell me not to panic?"

"Yes, but now that she's here and you've reminded me just how inexperienced we are, I'm worried. And… maybe a little bit scared."

Yuri stared at her with concern. Judith was looked at the table looking very small and vulnerable. This scared Yuri almost more than the idea of what he was supposed to do with a baby. Judy was always so confident and sure of herself, so seeing her admitting to being scared was an alien experience for him. Without a word, Yuri crossed the room, leaned over, and wrapped his arms around her. He wasn't very good at expressing himself with words, so he hoped this got his message across.

"I'm not mad at you, you know," Judith said softly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

"I think I deserved it."

"I'm so worried about Jo. I've only known her for a day and I already love her more than anything, and I don't feel equipped to give her everything she deserves."

Yuri nodded, understanding how she felt _exactly_. He squeezed her tightly, and then walked over to the crib and looked down at Jo. "I think the problem is that we're looking at this like a lifetime commitment looming over us. So, let's take this a day at a time. Right now, she really only has a few needs. She needs to sleep, she needs to be loved, she needs to eat, and she needs her diaper changed." He turned around to face Judith. "That's only four things. We can handle that. She doesn't need our help sleeping, and I'm sure she'll get lots of love. So lets' divide the last two jobs between us. I'll let you handle feeding her, because I, well…" he glanced at Judith's chest. "I just can't. So, if you take care of the food going in, I'll handle the food coming out."

Judith smirked a bit. "You're volunteering for diaper duty?"

Yuri crossed his arms. "It's only fair, right. Believe me, I'd rather do the feeding but I lack the required equipment. Once she's onto solid foods, we can trade."

"I think I can live with that arrangement."

"Good." Yuri walked away from her crib and back toward the bed. "When she gets older, her needs will change. But, we can deal with that when we get there. We'll do the job that's in front of us."

"We'll probably makes mistakes."

Yuri nodded. "I don't doubt that. But, we'll get better as time goes on. Kids are resilient. I figure, even if we're only mediocre parents, as long as we're not flat-out _bad_ parents, it'll be better than having no parents at all. I don't have parents, and I turned out ok, so by that logic she should turn out at least somewhat better than me."

Judith smiled slightly. "I'm not sure that logic is entirely sound, but alright."

"Good. Now, I'm going to bed."

"Didn't you sleep all day?"

"Hangover sleep doesn't count as sleep."

"Alright. Are you going to pick up your shirt?"

Yuri glanced down at the shirt he'd tossed aside earlier. "I… wasn't going to."

"I see."

Judith usually wasn't too picky about cleanliness, but even she drew the line at Yuri's slovenly ways. Yuri had to admit, part of his problem with untidiness was from the join fact that he shared a room with Flynn for so much of his life, and that Flynn's infuriated reaction to Yuri leaving his closed everywhere was more pleasing to him than a clean room. Now, leaving his clothes all over the floor had just become habit, even if Judith didn't freak out in such an amusing manner.

Yuri flopped down on the bed, looking forward to a good night's sleep that wouldn't be rudely put on hold to rush to the bathroom at five in the morning.

"You know," Judith said, "one of these days you need to tell me the story behind that scar on your chest."

Yuri frowned, glad that his serious express was now out of Judith's view. He rested his hand on the scar right below his rib cage, the one that he had dear Sodia to thank for, and said, as flippantly as he could, "Nah, it's actually pretty boring. Just a training accident when Flynn and I were in the knights."

"Alright then. Sleep well."

Yuri did sleep well… for about three hours. At that point, he was rudely awakened by a crying baby, and Judith sighed and crawled out of bed to take care of feeding. Yuri rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head. _One day at a time_, he thought. But wow was he ever anticipating the days when she slept through the night.


	15. Domestic

**Chapter Fifteen: Domestic**

"Are you sure you can handle everything?" Judith asked, standing in the doorway.

Yuri crossed his arms. "Yes, Judy, I can handle one afternoon alone with Jo."

"Ok, because the last time I left you alone with her you took her to a bar and then got beat up."

"I didn't get beat up!" Yuri said. "It was a fight. Everyone got hurt. You make it sound like I got my ass kicked."

"That is sort of the way Karol explained it."

"Karol doesn't know what he's talking about."

"I think he remembers that night better than you do."

"Well, that's not going to happen today."

"Good. I'll be home around six, ok?" Researchers from Ruin's Gate had found some old Krityan ruins and had requested Judith's help translating some old tablets. Ordinarily she would have dragged Yuri along, because if she had to suffer through a boring day in an office, Yuri might as well suffer too, but Yuri had lucked out by the fact that he needed to stay home and take care of Jo. "Her bottle is in the ice box, and spare diapers are in-"

"I know, Judy," Yuri said. "I do actually know how to take care of my own kid."

"Alright. Good luck." She kissed him on the cheek and then left the apartment.

Yuri closed the door, and then turned to face the apartment with his arms crossed and a determined expression. Jo watched him from her basket sitting on the couch, while Repede lay curled up on the floor in front of her. "Alright," Yuri said, "we have about four hours before Mom comes home, and we are going to make the most of it."

He looked around their chaotic living room, which looked even more like a hurricane had passed through it than normal. He and Judith had never been particularly tidy people, but ever since Jo arrived, cleaning up had always seemed like the last thing they needed to do. In the past, he usually only tidied up when he knew Flynn was visiting, and then it was mostly because the effort of tidying was less annoying than listening to Flynn berate him for being a slob. But today, he was going to do it. He was going to surprise Judith and clean the living room, and then he was going to make sure she mentioned it to Flynn the next time they saw him because he deserved points for this.

"Repede," Yuri said, "do me a favour and gather up all the laundry." It had all been washed, but Judith had given up on the final stretch and abandoned the clothes in a big pile in the living room, waiting to be sorted and folded. "Take it to our room, and put my stuff in one pile and her stuff in another pile."

Repede barked and leapt to action. Yuri turned his focus on the kitchen, and gathered up as many dirty plates as he could find in the sink. He was a bit disturbed by the green stuff on some of those plates, because he was certain they hadn't eaten anything green lately, but decided he would rather not know exactly what was now growing on them. _Huh_, he thought. _Maybe this is why Flynn always told me to wash things within a day of using them_.

As Repede ran around the house gathering up the laundry, Yuri left the dishes in the sink to soak and grabbed a trash bag. There was plenty of stuff lying around that could be tossed. When the bag was about half full, he paused by the basket on the couch and reached town to pull on Jo's foot.

"And what about you, huh? You're the messiest person in the house, you know."

She cooed happily and pulled her foot away.

"What are you so happy about? I was insulting you, you know. All you do is eat all day and then either spit it up on me or crap it out, and you do nothing to contribute. It's about time you got up and earned your keep. Come on, you've been alive a month, how hard is it to pick up a broom and do something around the house?"

He set the trash bag down on the couch and then picked her up. "Well? Not going to help me out? Fine." He started lowering her into the trash bag. He heard a bark, and looked over to see Repede glaring at him disapprovingly. "What? I was joking!" He pulled her away from the trash bag and Repede returned to his job.

Yuri looked down at Jo and said, "Why does everyone think I'm so unqualified to take care of you? You're not that difficult. All you do is sleep, crap and eat." So far, his and Judith's arrangement was working out nicely. After a month of this he considered himself quite the pro at diaper changing.

It was quite the change from the first few times he'd tried to change her diaper. Luckily, one of those times had been right after they picked her up after their mission at Deidon Hold and Estelle had seen him struggling and taken pity on him. Estelle had been more than willing to jump in and teach him exactly what to do. He was pretty sure that the huge smile on her face had been because she was so happy to get to teach Yuri how to do something for once.

It also might have been tied to her comment of, "Oh! Girls are easier!"

"Huh?" Yuri had said. "Why would diaper changing be different with boys?"

"Well," Estelle said happily, "girls can't spray you in the face."

"Oh…" He'd glanced to Oliver, slightly horrified, and wondered if he might have been misguided in his hopes for a boy earlier.

Yuri put Jo back in her basket and returned to trash pick-up. This took longer than he'd been expecting, and he was slightly embarrassed by just how much trash had been lying our the apartment. He got annoyed by his hair falling into his face every time he bent over, so he grabbed a hair-tie and pulled it out of his face.

That done, went into his bedroom and folded the laundry that Repede had sorted for him. As he piled the haphazardly folded shirts in the drawer, he thought about the explanation Flynn had given him of how you were 'supposed' to sort clothes, by size and colour. Yuri was pretty sure this was why folding laundry had always been a two-hour affair for Flynn.

Yuri grabbed a shirt from his pile, but when he held it up he felt silk and lace and looked down in confusion. "Repede," he said, holding the skimpy black undershirt over his chest, "did you really think this was mine?"

Repede sat in the doorway and growled, sniffed the pile, and then barked.

"Oh, I get it," Yuri said. "It smelled a lot like me and you were sorting based on your nose?"

Repede barked again, and Yuri took this as confirmation. He looked down at the shirt, and realized they should probably start sorting their laundry more regularly. It had been over a month since he and Judith had had an occasion to get Yuri's scent all over her underclothes.

After sorting the laundry, Yuri returned to the main room. Jo was asleep, so he rolled up his sleeves and tackled the dishes. This took a while, because even after soaking, some of the grime was really caked on there. Yuri had always scoffed at Estelle's life in the castle, but he thought that if it came with a servant to wash dishes for him, it might be worth it.

Half an hour later, the dishes were drying in the cupboards (they didn't have a dish rack and he was impatient) and he grabbed a broom. It was buried deep in the closet, because at one point in time one of them had said "We should own a broom because we are responsible adults" but it had since been used perhaps three times in Yuri's living memory. Yuri raced through the kitchen and living room as fast as he could, sweeping up both dirt and pieces of straw left behind in the wake of his zealous sweeping.

"There!" he said, standing in the middle of the living room with a broom in one hand, his other on his hip. "I'm done!" He grinned at Repede as he surveyed the room. It was far from immaculate. Table tops were still cluttered, the windows still needed to be washed, and someday they really should find a way to cover that grape juice stain on the couch (which Yuri insisted was 100% Karol's fault, and he had no part in it whatsoever) but it was cleaner than it had been since the day they moved in.

Yuri grinned, feeling very proud of himself. This moment didn't last too long. As Repede stared at him, Yuri slowly started to think about what he was doing. Here he was, all happy because he'd cleaned the house, with his hair tied back and his sleeves rolled up, a broom in hand, and a sleeping baby on the couch.

"Oh… oh hell…" His face fell. "I've gone _domestic_. Repede, what happened to me?!" _I used to be cool_, he thought. _I fought Alexei. I destroyed the Adephagos. Now my biggest achievements are changing diapers and cleaning the living room. What the hell have I become?!_

He let the broom drop. It hit the floor with a loud clatter. This set off Jo's crying. "Ah, hell, I'm sorry." He walked over and slumped down on the couch, and then pulled his hair out of the tie and let it fall down around his shoulders. He felt silly with it pulled back. Jo was still crying, so he pulled her out of the basket and settled her onto his lap. She whined and cried, her face scrunched up in displeasure. It wasn't the loudest he'd heard her, but it definitely wasn't the quietest, either.

"What do you want? Are you just mad that I knocked a broom over? Get over it! It was just a dumb broom."

She didn't stop. Yuri closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch in exhaustion. Estelle said that babies needed to be fed every four or five hours, which meant Jo had been waking up hungry a few times a night every night for a month. Yuri generally slammed a pillow over his face and tried to go back to bed when this happened, because he was physically incapable of doing anything about her hunger and he didn't think it was fair that his sleep kept getting interrupted, too. And to top it off, both Karol and Judith got mad at him when they found him crashing in Karol's office the next morning.

"Uh… are you hungry? Is that it?" Judy had said she'd be hungry while she was out, and had left a bottle in the ice box. It was worth a shot. With Jo cradled in one arm, Yuri fetched the bottle from the kitchen and looked down at her. "Alright, you need to eat this and stop crying. Deal?" He pushed the tip of the bottle at her mouth, but she stopped crying to close her mouth and turned her head away. Yuri sighed in agitation. "Yes, I know, I'm rather fond of Mom's boobs too, but they – and the attached woman – are not here right now. Come on, don't be like Oliver and eat your damn lunch."

She opened her mouth a bit and Yuri stuck the tip of the bottle into her mouth. "Go on, drink."

She took a few hesitant sucks, and then Yuri relaxed as she began drinking in earnest. "There, see? I'm not totally useless." He stood in the kitchen, looking around at the clean counters. "You know what? I should cook tonight." He and Judith used to eat well almost every night, but lately they'd been too tired to bother and had been eating take-out and bagels for a month. Wouldn't Judy be happy to come home and find a delicious dinner waiting for her?

"You know, it's your fault we haven't been eating well," Yuri said, although Jo was ignoring him as she drank. "When you grow up, you'd better learn to cook and prepare delicious meals for us to make up for it." He frowned a bit and added, "Although, I think we're out of food. I guess we'll make a trip to the market. Are you going to behave?" Jo said nothing as she drank. "Well, whether you are or not, we need food so let's get ready to go."

Jo finished her bottle, which Yuri left on the counter because, hey, he'd already cleaned today and there was no point overachieving. He was about to walk out the door, and then remembered that he had to get Jo ready to go out. He sighed and walked to the nursery. "I think I'm going to like you a lot more when you can put your own damn hat on."

He set her down on the changing table and pulled a jacket around her. He fumbled with the little buttons, wondering why they had to be so small. His fingers were not nearly nimble enough to deal with this. His hands were used to swinging swords around, not dressing babies.

"It's not that I don't love you now," Yuri said, trying to find her hat. "It's just that you're a real pain in the ass." He supposed he had about a year before she was old enough to understand his actual words and not just the affectionate tone of voice. He found her hat, which was still Oliver's hat with the holes poked in it.

"What kind of creature can't put a hat on?" He tugged it onto her head, gently guiding her pointy ears through the holes. "It is probably the least complicated article of clothing to put on. If you struggle with bras when you grow up, I'll understand, because I struggle with your mom's bras too sometimes, but come on. It's a hat!"

With Jo dressed, he wrapped a sling around his shoulder and tucked Jo into it, and then in the living room he dumped her basket upside down, spilling blankets all over the couch. "Sorry to ruin your bed, but I need to carry groceries. Hey, Repede, you coming with me?"

Repede barked and jumped to his feet to follow them out of the door. Downstairs, Yuri stopped at the desk to talk to Karol. "Yo, Captain Karol, any dangerous jobs coming up?"

"Oh, hi, Yuri," Karol said. He grabbed a paper and scanned down it. "Uh… day after tomorrow a group of us are escorting some researchers to Keiv Moc. That might dangerous. Why?"

"Sign me up," Yuri said. "I need to kill something."

Karol looked up at him hesitantly. "Uh… that's kinda of worrying, Yuri."

"I've been cooped up in an apartment changing diapers for a month. I need to get out and fight something or I'm going to go insane."

"If you say so, Yuri. Does Judith want to go?"

Yuri frowned. Of course Judith would want to go. She was just as bored as Yuri was. However, a trip to Keiv Moc would take most of the day and that was a bit long to leave Jo with Karol. Yuri knew Karol would agree to babysit whenever they asked, but Karol had never changed a diaper, put a baby to sleep, or fed one, and throwing that at him all at once wasn't fair to him or Jo. "Nah, she can take the next dangerous mission."

"Alright. I'll let the guys know you're going with them."

"Thanks, Karol. See you later." If he went on a mission, he'd also feel better about taking money from the guild. Usually, the money the various guild members made was pooled and then given out equally, but Yuri and Judith had barely done any work this month but still got their paycheck. Of course Karol had said they could have as much time off to take care of Jo as they needed, but Yuri hated to think of himself as a freeloader.

They walked outside, and Yuri looked down at Jo. "What, you're sleeping now? Awake all night, but sleeping now when we're leaving the house and there's cool stuff to look at? See, this is why I don't like babies. No common sense."

At the market, Yuri wandered around, finding the best ingredients. Growing up, he and Flynn typically ate whatever they could get their hands on. Now that he actually had money, Yuri felt great satisfaction buying expensive ingredients to cook a proper meal. He was planning on making pork stew, so he stood in the shop and looked over the selection of peppers. Repede had waited outside, because as much as everyone in Dahngrest liked Yuri, there were certain policies about animals in stores.

"What do you think, Jo? Red peppers or green peppers?" She didn't respond, since she was asleep, so he said, "Both? Yeah, I think that sounds good." He added these to the basket, and then he heard a voice that dampened his pretty good day.

"Afternoon, Lowell," Grimes said. "Have you recovered from the ass-kicking you received at the bar yet?"

Yuri looked over at him with displeasure. He stood next to Yuri with a basket of his own, looking through the pepper selection. "Yes, I have. Which just goes to show that getting punched in the face really isn't that big a deal. I mean, here we are a month later and my injuries have healed, but you're still walking around with that ugly mug."

"You're still walking around with that half-human freak of a baby, I see."

Yuri dropped the pepper he was holding, because he had been about to crush it and didn't want to pay for pepper ground to mush. "Insult me all you want, Grimes, but if you mess with my kid I'm going to have to hurt you."

Grimes let out a short laugh. "Like you hurt me at the bar when your friends came to help you run away?"

"You attack a man when he's drunk, and _I'm_ the coward?" He wanted very much to punch Grimes right now. He wanted a re-match of the bar, now that he was sober and could hold his own, to make Grimes pay for insulting Jo. But, he couldn't get into a fight now. He had Jo to think about, and he had to prove to Flynn that he could be a responsible father, and responsible fathers didn't get into fist fights at the store. He had to be a grown-up now.

"At least I'm not walking around with a baby hanging around my neck. Very masculine."

As far as Yuri was concerned, being a grown-up meant no physical fights. There were no rules about not being a sarcastic asshole. "Are you kidding? Babies are the most manly thing around." He patted Jo's side through the sling and said, "Think of her as living proof that I got laid. Don't give me a long face, now – maybe it will happen to you someday."

Grimes glared at him, his lip curling into a sneer.

"Whoa, didn't see your teeth earlier. On second thought, maybe it won't."

"You think you're so perfect, don't you?" Grimes said.

Yuri pretended to think for a moment. "Uh… well, I have a beautiful girlfriend, I'm best friends with the princess, oh, and I saved the world. Yeah, I guess I'm doing pretty good. Let's go home, Jo."

He started walking away, feeling very proud of himself for walking away without starting a fight, when Grimes grabbed the front of Yuri's shirt and pushed him back. "Just wait, pretty boy. Your perfect little life is going to come crashing down around you one of these days, and I am going to take great joy in watching it happen."

Yuri glared at him, but said, "Aw, do you really think I'm pretty? Sorry, I'm in a relationship right now." He pushed Grimes out of the way and walked to the front to pay for his food. He was half way across the store when he paused, looked over his shoulder, and saw Grimes with his back to him, angrily picking out tomatoes.

_I am a responsible adult,_ he said to himself. _I am being a mature father who can be trusted to take his daughter out. What would Flynn do?_ He thought for another moment, and decided that Flynn wasn't here so what he would do was a moot point. As quietly as he could, he paced back to Grimes, lightly pulled the peppers out of the back of his basket, and then replaced them with nearly identical ones. He grinned, and then hurried away.

He paid for his food and met up with Repede outside. "See, Jo?" Yuri said as they made their way home. "Good parents don't punch sons of bitches in the face in public, even if they deserve it. They might, however, switch out peppers for ones that are nearly identical yet ten times as hot." He paused, and then said, "Trust me, if you understood what I was saying you'd be laughing. He's going to be in for a surprise tonight."

* * *

Yuri heard the door unlock as he was pouring the stew into bowls. His head shot to the door. He wasn't ready yet! The table wasn't set and the kitchen was once again a mess. He'd been hoping for an extra ten minutes to at least get everything on the table.

Judith stepped into the apartment, and then stopped and stared. She looked at the door, checking the number on the front with a frown. Then she looked to Yuri and said, "I'm sorry. I seem to have entered the wrong apartment."

"Very funny," Yuri said.

She closed the door and entered fully. "Did you really clean the apartment?"

"Yeah," Yuri said. He put the now empty pot down on the counter and said, "I made dinner, too."

"My," Judith said. "Maybe I should leave you home alone more often. I didn't even know you knew were the broom was."

"Hey, I'm the one who put it away last time." He carried the bowls to the table and set them down.

"That's because you were trying to hide it so Flynn couldn't find it so easily the next time he visited."

"That's not the point."

"Where's Jo?"

"Sleeping in her crib. Sit down, dinner is ready."

Judith sat down and looked at the décor on the table. She raised her eyebrow and said, "Is that a dandelion in a glass of water?"

"I was going to get you flowers but then I ran into Grimes and I forgot. But, I figure a dandelion is a type of flower so… close enough."

"I suppose so. And the tiny birthday candle?"

Yuri sat down across from her, pulled out a match, and lit the tiny candle that was propped up between two bricks. "It was supposed to be romantic… but we didn't have any candles. This is all Karol had."

"Shouldn't the lights be dimmed to take full advantage of the romantic mood?"

"Yeah, but this candle isn't bright enough to see the food by so… we have to leave the lights on."

Judith couldn't hold in laughter any more.

Yuri scowled. "I tried."

Judith tried to stop laughing, and was able to get out, "Yuri, this is one of the sweetest things you've ever done. Thank you."

Yuri nodded, glad that his efforts we appreciated. They both picked up their spoons and dug in.

"Wow, this is really good," Judith said.

"You sound surprised," he said with a smirk.

"You voluntarily picked up a broom; I think I've had enough surprises for today. I'm just happy to finally have a good hot meal for once."

She was about to take a second bite when a loud cry rang through the apartment. They froze, and Yuri's heart sunk. They both slumped their shoulders in defeat.

"Sounds like someone else is hungry, too," Judith said, starting to stand up.

"No," Yuri said, quickly getting up before she could. "I just fed her two hours. She's probably just too cold, or too hot, or needs her diaper changed or something. You eat, I'll deal with her."

"Are you sure? I can wait for you."

"Nah, no point in both of us having cold dinners. I'll be back a it." He strolled down the hall to the nursery and stood over the crib. "Hey," he said, bending over and picking her up. "What is this about? Your mom and I were having a romantic moment." He held her against his chest and rubbed her back, trying to put her back to sleep. His stomach growled a bit, but he couldn't go eat until Jo was taking care of.

"See?" he said. "This is why I hate babies." Suddenly, she stopped crying and burped. That done, she relaxed and snuggled against his chest. Yuri sighed. "But, I guess you're alright."

* * *

About three months later, Flynn sat at his desk, tapping his pen against the paper as he rested his head in his hand. Could he afford to send fifty troops to reinforce the group clearing the monster nest out of Ehmead Hill? And could he go there and direct troop movements personally and still be back in time for that formal dinner next week? He was worried he was getting rusty from spending so much of his time behind a desk these days, but he couldn't risk missing the meeting between the Council and the guild leaders.

There was a knock at the door. "Come on," he said, looking up, thankful for the break.

The door opened, and he immediately jumped to his feet. "Good afternoon, Your Majesty!" he said.

Ioder smiled at him as he crossed the room. "Good afternoon, Flynn. Sit down, I want to talk to you."

"Of course, sir." Flynn sunk back into his chair, sitting up a little straighter than usual. After all their years of working together, Ioder was always telling him not to be so formal. But, Flynn couldn't bring himself to treat Ioder as anything other than the emperor. It just felt _wrong_.

Ioder sat down across from him and said, "How is work going?"

"Very well, sir. I was just deciding how many troops to send to Ehmead Hill."

"Is there still a problem there?"

"I'm afraid so, sir."

"I see. That must be why I haven't been able to get those Nor Habour oysters lately."

"Yes, shipments from the harbour have been delayed for the past couple weeks."

"Hm… if you can get the hill cleared in time to get shipments in before the dinner next week, that would be ideal. I'm not sure if that would be feasible, though."

Flynn looked down at the map on his desk. "I might be able to. We'll see."

Ioder smiled. "Good. Now, Flynn, I came to talk to you about more than just the dinner menu. I'm not sure if you're aware, but there have been some… rumours around the castle."

Flynn shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm quite terrible at keeping up with the castle gossip. Is it anything serious?"

"Well… to be honest, the reason these rumours have been avoiding you is likely because they are about you."

"Pardon?" Flynn put his pen down, wondering what rumours could possibly be circulating about him. Worry ran through his mind. If they were serious enough that the emperor himself was coming to confront him about them, it must be pretty bad. "What is the nature of these rumours?"

"As I'm sure you are aware, the Council and the knighthood are our two separate branches of government. It is important that the two are kept separate, so that they may check and balance each other."

"Yes, of course," Flynn said, wondering why Ioder was giving him a basic education on how their government worked. Considering he was at the top of one of such branches, he was pretty sure he knew how it worked.

Ioder shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He said, "It's because of this that I need to ask you… are you having a sexual relationship with Lady Estellise?"

Flynn stared at Ioder. Whatever he might have been expecting Ioder to say, it certainly wasn't this. A sexual relationship with Lady Estellise? It was absurd, and not only because Estelle wasn't interested in men. Ioder was still staring him as Flynn sat there slack-jawed, so he quickly said, "No! Absolutely not."

Ioder visibly relaxed. "Good. I was fairly sceptical about these rumours, but I felt I needed to ask you about it."

"What exactly are these rumours saying?"

"Only that a lot of people have noticed that the pair of you have a very close relationship, and then you are both curiously single even after all these years. There's been some speculation that you are seeing each other clandestinely."

"That is completely untrue," Flynn said. "I can assure you, Your Majesty, my relationship with Lady Estellise is entirely platonic."

"I believe you, Flynn," Ioder said. "You don't have to convince me. If I may ask, is there anyone that you are involved with?"

Flynn shook his head. "No, sir. I've never found the time to date with this job."

"I understand," Ioder said. "However, I might recommend that you find someone, if only to put the rumours to rest. If they get out of hand, this could be damaging to your career."

"Yes, I see," Flynn said. He wouldn't want to date just for the purpose of saying he was dating, though. That wouldn't be fair to whatever woman he ended up with.

Ioder seemed to see what he was thinking, and said, "Perhaps you could ask a female friend to accompany you to the dinner next week? Simply to make it appear to the other council members that you are in a relationship with someone other than Lady Estellise."

"That could work." If he had any friends. It was kind of sad now that he thought about it, but just as his career kept him from dating, it kept him from having much of a social life at all. The only people he socialized with were his subordinates and Yuri's friends.

He thought about the female knights he knew. He wasn't close enough with any of them that asking them to pretend to be his girlfriend for the night wouldn't be awkward. Of course they would do it if he asked, because he was their commandant, but this was a personal favour and they would treat his request as an order. Ordering someone to be his date was definitely unethical, as well as completely against the law. The only woman he knew well enough that she would be able to take it as a request from a friend and not an order from a commandant was Sodia. But… well, he was fairly sure she had feelings for him. Captain Schwann had teased him about it, but when he really thought about it, it was fairly obvious she had strong feelings for him above and beyond friendship or rank.

The trouble was that Flynn did not return those feelings. He certainly liked her. She was a good knight, a kind person, loyal to the core, and admittedly rather pretty. However, Sodia didn't just respect him as her commander, she straight-out idolized him. She was a perfect subordinate, but if Flynn was going to be in a relationship, he wanted it to be with someone who cared about _him_, not their idea of him as a perfect commandant. He couldn't return her feelings because they really didn't know each other outside of their roles as knights, and asking her to pretend to be with him when nothing would actually come of it was too cruel.

"Flynn?"

He realized he'd been quiet for quite some time. "Sorry, Your Majesty. I was considering my options. The truth is… I don't have very many friends." He briefly –_very_ briefly – considered the option of Yuri, who had been mistaken for a girl on some occasions. But no, that wouldn't work, he was already going to be attending with Karol to represent Brave Vesperia, among other reasons why it wouldn't work.

What other girls did he know? His best female friend was Lady Estellise, but proving he wasn't dating her was the reason for this in the first place. There was Miss Mordio, but he really couldn't imagine her going along with this plan. Besides, since she lived in the castle it would be expected that he see her all the time and they'd have to keep the ruse going much longer.

That left Judith. She was literally the only other woman Flynn knew that he might feel remotely comfortable asking. Nobody at the castle knew anything about her other than that she was one of Yuri Lowell's friends who came around to visit Lady Estellise sometimes. It could work, if he could get up the nerve to ask her without tripping over himself in embarrassment.

"I think I can work something out," he said.

"Good," Ioder said with a smile. "I don't mean to pressure you, but it would be good to nip these rumours in the bud."

"I understand, sir. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

"Glad to hear it." Ioder stood up and pushed his chair in. "I need to get back to my own duties. Good luck, Flynn."

Ioder left, and Flynn sat with his chin resting on his intertwined fingers, deep in thought. How exactly was he supposed to phrase his request? He didn't really know Judith very well. He'd associated with her for about ten years now, but that was only because she always came with Yuri. After hanging out with someone for ten years, they either became a friend or an enemy and Judith fell happily into the 'casual friend' territory. But if it was his only option to save both himself and Estelle from a scandal, he'd have to do it. When Yuri and Judith came to town next week, he'd have to ask.


	16. Communism, Duck Livers, and Assassins

**Chapter Sixteen: Communism, Duck Livers, and Assassins, Oh My**

"I feel stupid," Yuri said, standing in their room in the Lower Quarter.

"Well, you look quite dashing," Judith said from her seat on the bed with Jo on her lap. "Jo thinks so too, don't you?"

"Jo, say nothing if you think I look stupid," Yuri said. Jo stared blankly at him, and he said, "There, see? Jo agrees with me."

"You look fine, Yuri," Karol said. He sat at the table, dressed in similarly formal clothes. "Can we go now?"

Yuri scowled. "I guess so." He hadn't had to wear his formal clothes since Oliver's first birthday, but then this dinner meeting came up and Karol insisted he come with him. He knew Karol was still nervous about being the boss of an influential guild despite being significantly younger than everyone else, so Yuri agreed to accompany him for moral support. Yuri considered it prime evidence of how much he really cared about Karol that he was willing to wear such stuffy clothing and sit through such a boring evening to help him out.

"We should get going," Yuri said. "Wouldn't want to be late." They'd arrived in Zaphias a bit later than they'd intended, which was because they left Dahngrest a bit later. Things just always seemed to take longer than they were expecting now that there was a baby in the house. They still had time to make it to the dinner, but they would be cutting it close.

Yuri walked to the door, but before he could reach it, it knocked. Who could that be? Yuri opened the door and was met by Flynn, already dressed in his formal dress uniform. "Flynn?"

"Yuri! I'm glad I caught you. I came by earlier but you weren't here yet. I thought you said you'd be arriving earlier this afternoon?"

"We were," Yuri said, a bit surprised by Flynn's panicked expression. "But then Jo got hungry, and then she needed her diaper changed, and then she threw up on Karol, and stuff happened. Can I help you?" He figured Flynn should be back at the castle, getting ready himself.

"Actually, I have a… a favour to ask of you. Of Judith, actually."

"Judy?" He looked over his shoulder at her. Judith had looked up at the sound of her name. "Well, come inside. Don't just stand in the doorway."

"Right. Thank you." Flynn walked in, and then crossed the room to stand in front of Judith. His face was a bit pink, and he stood with his feet very close together and his hands balled up into fists at his side.

"Is something wrong, Flynn?" Yuri asked.

Flynn took a deep breath, and then said, "Judith, I – I want to ask you if you would be willing to go with me to the dinner tonight as my date."

Yuri stared at him. Judith raised an eyebrow. Karol was the first to speak, and all he did was laugh and say, "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I'm flattered," Judith said, "but I'm afraid you'll have to fight Yuri for the right."

"What is this about, Flynn?" Yuri asked. He put his hand on his hip and looked to Flynn in bemusement.

"I'm sorry," Flynn said. "I should have explained. I need a date to the dinner tonight and I didn't know who to ask."

"So… you thought you'd ask my partner?"

"I'm touched by your offer," Judith said. "It's so hard for a woman to feel attractive again after giving birth."

Yuri gave her a look. He knew perfectly well that Judith was just as comfortable with herself as ever.

"I'd take you up on the offer if I wasn't already spoken for," Judith said. "I've never dated a strong, handsome knight before. What do you think, Jo?" She looked down at the girl on her lap. "Should I break up with your dad for Uncle Flynn?"

"Pretty bold, Flynn," Yuri said. "Asking her out right in front of me. Not even going to bother trying to keep the affair secret, I see."

"No!" Flynn said, waving his hands and frantically looking between them. "It's not like that at all!"

"I think you'd better explain from the beginning," Yuri said. The idea that Flynn would ever betray him like that was so absurd Yuri didn't consider it for a minute, and mostly he was just curious about whatever strange set of circumstances and led to Flynn needing Judith to date him.

Flynn nodded, looking distraught. "I'm sorry. I knew this conversation wasn't going to go over well…" He sighed. "You see, there are apparently rumours around the castle that I have been… erm… _seeing_ Lady Estellise. It's ridiculous, of course, but if these rumours keep spreading it could be damaging for both of our careers. His Majesty Ioder suggested that I bring a date to dinner in order to convince people that I'm not in a relationship with Lady Estellise. But, I don't have anyone to ask to go on a date so I thought maybe I could ask a female friend of mine to pretend to be my girlfriend for the evening. I don't have very many friends, though, but then I thought – Judith is a girl."

"Well spotted," Yuri said.

"I see," Judith said. "You want me to go to this dinner with you and act like your devoted girlfriend to stop the rumours."

"Yes! Exactly!"

"I can do that," Judith said. "As long as Yuri doesn't have a problem with it."

Yuri laughed a bit. "Are you kidding? This is going to be hilarious."

Flynn gave him a worried look, a bit hesitant about the idea that this Yuri apparently thought this would be funny. Flynn had learned a long time ago that things Yuri thought would be funny rarely turned out well for him.

"Luckily I left the dress I wore to Oliver's party behind last time we were here. Give me a moment to get changed." She stood up and handed Jo to Yuri. They only had a single room, not counting the tiny bathroom, so Judith just went ahead and pulled the dress out of the closet and changed in the corner. As soon as Flynn saw what she was doing, he spun around and covered his pink face with his hands.

"What are you going to do with Jo?" Karol asked. "If Judith is going too, someone needs to look after her."

"Don't worry about it," Yuri said. "I'm sure Rita can watch her."

"I'm ready," Judith said.

The slinky black dress she'd worn over a year ago was a bit small on her now. Her breasts, swollen with milk, barely fit. She gave Yuri a small smile that Yuri couldn't help but return. Sometimes when he looked at her, he thought that she was the most beautiful, fun, clever, and wonderful person in the world and that he was the luckiest man in the world. It was to his eternal disbelief that Judith seemed to think the same of him.

Judith walked forward and slipped her arm around Flynn's. "Ready for our date, Flynn?"

"You – ah – um – you look very nice," Flynn stammered. "I mean, considering you just had a baby a few months ago – er. Not that you don't always look nice. You do. Always look nice, I mean. You look just as nice now as you always have…. But it's not like I've been staring at you because I know you're in a relationship and I-"

"Flynn," Yuri said, taking pity on him and deciding it was time to end this before Flynn killed himself. "You can stop."

Flynn hung his head. "I'm sorry, Judith. I'm not very good at this."

Judith smiled at him. "You'd better relax a bit if we're going to be a convincing couple tonight."

"Yes, I know." He raised his head and took a deep breath. "Alright, we should go."

They set off for the castle. Jo was asleep, but Yuri half-hoped she'd wake up and spit up on him. He only had one formal shirt, so if it got ruined, well, too bad, what a shame, guess he'd have to change into something more comfortable. At the castle, Yuri was for once not asked for his permission to enter, helped along by the fact that he was accompanied by Flynn. The guards at the gate glared at him, but didn't say a word as long as the commandant was next to him.

"Judith and I will go on ahead," Flynn said. "I'm supposed to meet His Highness and the Council before heading in."

"Alright," Yuri said. "We're just going to make a quick pit stop to drop Jo off with Rita. Enjoy your date."

Yuri loved the fact that turning Flynn into a blustering, embarrassed teenager was easier than pushing a button.

"It's not a date!" Flynn protested.

"Aw, why would you say that?" Judith said, placing her hands on his shoulder and then resting her chin on them. "After you asked me out and everything."

"Y-you know what I mean." His face slid along the spectrum of blushing from slightly pink to bright red as Judith's cleavage pressed against his arm. Before Yuri could tease him again, he led Judith away down the hall.

Yuri chuckled a bit, and said, "Come on, Captain Karol."

"Yuri, you're terrible," Karol said as they walked toward Rita and Estelle's place. "Are you ever going to give him a break?"

"Probably not," Yuri said.

A few minutes later, Karol knocked on the door. Yuri heard Estelle's voice yell, "Rita, can you please get that?"

A few seconds later, the door opened. "What are you doing here?" Rita asked.

"Good to see you too, Rita," Yuri said.

"Is that Yuri?"

Over Rita's shoulder, Yuri saw Estelle walk into the main room with her hands at her head, trying to put an earring on. "Hey, Estelle."

Estelle smiled. "Hello, Yuri! Karol! I wasn't expecting to see you until dinner." She finished putting the earring on and lowered her hands, straightening the skirt of her dress. "Do you need something?"

"A favour, actually," Yuri said as he and Karol walked into the apartment "Judy is joining us for dinner tonight, so we need Rita to look after Jo."

"Yeah, that's fine," Rita said.

"Oh, let me see her," Estelle said, rushing over to lean over Rita's shoulder and look down at the baby. "Look how much she's grown! Yuri, you need to visit more!"

"Sorry," Yuri said. "It's hard to find time for vacations."

"It's ok, I know how hard it can be to find time for things with a baby." Estelle rested her arms on Rita's shoulders and looked down at Jo with a smile. "I want to hold her, but I'm afraid of messing up my dress."

"Better not," Rita said, "it took you long enough to get into that thing."

Estelle pouted, but didn't argue. She just looked down at Jo, and then said, "Is it just me, or does she seem kind of small?"

"Of course she's small," Karol said. "She's just a baby."

"No," Estelle said, "I mean, she seems small compared to how big Oliver was when he was four months old."

Yuri frowned and rubbed his chin, not liking the implication that there was something wrong with his kid. "Do you think there's a problem?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Rita said. "Every baby is different, and you're probably just misremembering because you're used to Oliver at the size he is now."

"Yes, that's probably it," Estelle said. "Anyway, why is Judith going? I thought this was just for the Council and the guild leaders."

"It is," Karol said. He suppressed a snicker and said, "But Flynn needs a pretend date."

Yuri passed Jo to Rita while Estelle said, "Why does Flynn need a date?"

"Because he's trying to put out the rumours that he's sleeping with you, Estelle," Yuri said.

Estelle gasped and her hands flew to her mouth. "W-what?! People think we're…?"

"Who's starting these rumours?" Rita demanded. "Gimme their names! They gotta pay for spreading rumours like that!"

"Calm down!" Karol said. "It's not that serious."

"Oh no," Estelle said, her hands clasped together and her eyebrows knitted together with worry. "Oh, have people really been saying that? I'm so embarrassed!"

"Don't worry about it," Yuri said. "Flynn is taking care of it."

"I hope I didn't get Flynn into trouble," Estelle said. "This is because I'm always hugging him…"

"Don't blame yourself, Estelle," Rita said. "If those idiots think a girl can't be friends with a man without them being in a relationship, that's their problem, not yours."

"I guess you're right…"

"Uncle Yuri!"

Yuri heard tiny pounding footsteps and then Oliver came running out of his room. As soon as he reached him, Yuri leaned down and picked him up with a smile. "Hey there, kiddo. Oof, you're getting heavy."

"Play with me."

"Sorry, no can do. I'm busy tonight."

"It's ok, Oliver," Karol said. "Jo is here to play with you instead."

Oliver craned his neck around to see Jo in Rita's arms. He frowned. "Baby is boring."

"She'll be more exciting someday," Yuri said. Oliver tended to ignore Jo whenever they brought her over, because she spent most of her time sleeping. "Alright, you're getting too heavy for me, kid." He wasn't, but if he held a squirming toddler for too much longer his dress clothes were going to get wrinkled and then Flynn would yell at him.

He set Oliver down on the ground. "Karol and I need to get going to meet up with the guild bosses. See you at dinner, Estelle."

"Oh, yes. I just have a few more things to get ready. I'll see you soon."

"We'll be back to get Jo after dinner. Thanks, Rita."

"It's not a problem."

Yuri would much rather spend the evening hanging around the house looking after the kids than sitting with a bunch of stuffy nobles and eating stuffy noble food and talking about politics, but Karol's presence wasn't an option and he wouldn't put Karol through that alone so he reluctantly followed Karol away from the apartment.

Fifteen minutes later, Yuri and Karol stood in a small antechamber with the other guild bosses. Karol was busy talking to Mr. Markham of Ruin's Gate, leaving Yuri alone. Yuri lurked by the wall with his arms crossed, wondering if there were any reported instances of people actually strangling to death from wearing a tie.

"Evening, Yuri," Natz said, walking up to him.

"Hey. You got dragged to this thing, too?"

"Someone's got to represent the interests of Pallestralle. Hey, I saw Judith walking arm-in-arm with Commandant Flynn just now. You didn't lose your girl to your best friend, did you?"

Yuri shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that. Flynn just needed to pretend he had a date."

Natz laughed. "Well, if you're going to have a fake girlfriend, you might as well have a good-looking one."

"Hm… hey, who's the woman over there?" He nodded at a woman standing alone in the corner. She wore a long grey gown and an unreadable expression, and Yuri didn't think he'd ever seen her before.

Natz lowered his voice a bit. "Ah. She's from the Soul Smiths. They don't like sending their actual guild boss, because then we might know who he is."

"That's kind of weird," Yuri said.

"Yeah, the Soul Smiths are an odd bunch, that's for sure."

The doors on the other side of the antechamber opened and a little man in a frilly hat bowed deeply and then said, "You may enter."

"Great," Yuri said. "Let's get this over with."

He joined up with Karol and followed him into the dining room. Ioder sat at the head of the long table, with members of the council down one side. Immediately to his right was a woman Yuri didn't recognize, wearing a golden gown and enough jewellery to pay the rent for the entire Lower Quarter for a year, Yuri guessed. Estelle sat next to her, and simply due to ranking Flynn was right next to her. This was inconvenient on the 'convince Council Flynn and Estelle aren't s couple' front, but the hierarchy went emperor, princess, commandant, council, so it couldn't be helped. That did raise the question of who the new woman was, but Yuri didn't dwell on it. The guild members filed in and sat down on the other side of the table. The guild members didn't have a hierarchy, so Yuri and Karol sat at the end of the table across from Estelle, Flynn and Judith.

"Good evening, Yuri," Ioder said. "I'm glad you could make it."

Flynn glared at Yuri across the table, silently telling him that he'd better be polite and respectful _or else_. Yuri glared back, and then forced a smile when he turned to Ioder. "It's my pleasure."

Ioder stood up and smiled at the assembled group. "Welcome and good evening. I'd like to personally thank all of you for coming, and I hope that the empire and the union can continue to operate on friendly terms. Following dinner we will engage in political discussion, but I hope for now we can all enjoy a friendly dinner. Please, enjoy yourselves."

There were platters of food on the table in front of him, and Yuri glanced around the table to see everyone else reaching out and taking it, so he figured it was ok. He grabbed a small piece of toast with diced tomato on top and started eating, already bored.

"So you're the infamous Yuri Lowell, I presume?" the woman said, staring at him intently.

Yuri swallowed and lowered the bread. "And if I am?"

"I've heard quite a lot about you," she said.

"Yuri," Ioder said, "I'd like to introduce you to Lady Katarina. She's my fiancé."

Yuri's eyes widened a bit. "Whoa. When did that happen?"

"We arranged the marriage approximately two months ago," Ioder said. "The wedding will be in about a year."

"Uh… good for you." Yuri glanced to Estelle, who was beaming. Yuri smiled a bit, too. Ioder getting married was actually a very good thing, because as soon as he had a child of his own, Estelle and Oliver were off the hook as his heirs. It was about time Ioder tied the knot.

"Commandant," Natz said, "I see you've brought a girl tonight too. New girlfriend?"

Flynn stared at him, and then his eyes darted to Yuri questioningly. Yuri gave him a itny nod to tell him Natz was in the know, and then he said, "Er, yes. This is…" Yuri suddenly realized that giving them name 'Judith' might be a bit _too_ suspicious, since they were trying to pretend that she wasn't the same Krityan that always came around with Yuri. Flynn realized this as well, and in a mild panic is blurted, "Betty. Her name is Betty."

Yuri stared at him, and then stared at Judith. There was a certain mental image associated with the name Betty, which mostly involved crocheting and fluffy pink cardigans. Judith sat there in her slinky black dress, glamorous and beautiful, looking for all the world like the pinnacle of examples of everything that a Betty was not.

"That's right," Judith said. "I just couldn't believe it when the commandant himself asked me out! Tee-hee!" He giggled and covered her mouth with her hand, and then leaned over and kissed Flynn on the cheek, leaving a small smudge of lipstick.

"Mr. Lowell," one of the council members said, "aren't you also dating a Krityan?"

"Yes," Yuri said. There was no point in trying to lie about it. "What of it?"

"Nothing," the council member said. "I just thought it odd that the commandant also found a Krityan. They're not exactly common, you." He frowned a bit, "And she looks quite similar to the one I've seen visiting Lady Estellise."

Flynn and Judith exchanged worried looks, and Estelle froze with her tomato toast halfway to her mouth.

Yuri eyed the councilman, sizing him up, trying to figure out how much he knew. What they were doing was not exactly illegal, but the Council would probably not take kindly to being lied to. Yuri had enough political savvy to know that Flynn's job was hard enough without the Council actively angry with him. "What are you talking about?" Yuri said, putting on an angry expression. "How can you think Betty looks anything like Judy? Are you saying all Krityans look the same to you?"

Karol played along, crossing his arms and saying, "No offense, but that's kind of racist."

The councilman was taken aback, and stammered, "N-no, I didn't mean it like that. Heavens, no, I had no intention of implying that."

"It's alright, Duke Hobbes," Flynn said. "No offence was taken."

"Ooh, I'll take it as a compliment," Judith said. "You told me your friend's girl was quite beautiful, Flynnie."

"Er… yes," Flynn said.

"Yuri, stop eating," Estelle said as Yuri reached for another piece of tomato toast. "You're going to get full."

Yuri paused. "Isn't that the point of eating? To fill yourself up?"

"Yes," Estelle said, "but if you stuff yourself with bruschetta you won't have room for the main courses."

"Oh." He hadn't even thought about that fact that there would be more courses. In his experience, all food that you planned to eat for a meal got piled up on the table at the outset and then you dug in. He supposed that wouldn't work in the castle, when all the food they planned on eating probably wouldn't all fit on the table at once. "What's bruschetta? Is that what this tomato toast is called?"

"Tomato toast?" Flynn said. "Yuri, that's ridiculous."

"It's crunchy bread with tomatoes on it. Tomato toast."

As he was talking, a small army of waiters descended upon them and swiftly and silently took away their plates, replacing them with bowls of soup. Yuri scowled a bit at this. He divided the world up into two kinds of people: people who got served, and people who got their own crap for themselves. It killed him to think that he was currently in the former category. But, the creamy vegetable soup smelled good so he reached for a spoon.

"No, Yuri," Estelle said. "That's your desert spoon. Your soup spoon is on the end."

Yuri looked down at the array of silverware before him. Why did it matter? A spoon was a spoon. If you licked it first, it could be re-used throughout the entire meal.

Noticing his confusion, Estelle helpfully added, "It's the one on the end. Start on the outside and work your way in."

"Got it." He grabbed the spoon, which didn't look any different from the one he'd initially reached for, and started on the soup. He noticed a councilwoman glaring at him, clearly feeling that he did not belong here. For once Yuri agreed with a council member, because he didn't think he belonged here either. But, if his presence annoyed the Council, that made him feel a bit better.

"Lady Estellise," another councilman said, "how is young Master Oliver doing?"

"Oh!" Estelle said. "He's doing really well. Just the other day, he dressed himself!"

"When are we going to see him in the Coliseum?" Natz asked. "With Yuri and Flynn hanging around him all the time, it's only a matter of time before he becomes a fighter, huh?"

"O-oh, I don't know," Estelle said. "That sounds really dangerous…"

"The Coliseum is no place for a prince," a councilman said. "How barbaric."

"Oh, yeah?" Natz said. "That's not what your son was saying when I saw him rooting for blood in the audience last month, Count Fogler.

Fogler stared at him in shock. "He – he what?"

"You didn't know?"

"That insolent -! He told me he was going to research in Aurnion!"

Natz laughed at Fogler's distress, while other Council members gave him sympathetic looks.

"Oh, Flynn, will you take me to the Coliseum?" Judith asked, giving him puppy-dog eyes. "It would be so exciting."

"Uh… if you want, Betty," Flynn said.

"I'd love to see you fight there, Flynnie. You're soooo strong," she swooned. "Weren't you the champion there once?" Judith asked.

"Yeah," Yuri said, "up until I kicked his ass."

"Oh, no," Flynn said. "You must be misremembering. I won that fight."

"In your dreams!"

"Guys," Karol said, "nobody won. Zagi interrupted the fight, remember?"

"Yeah," Yuri said, "but I was winning."

"You were not," Flynn said. "You had taken significantly more damage than I had."

"Because you were wearing armour! I hit you way more times."

"Well, whose fault is it that you decided to go into battle without wearing any armour?"

"Please stop fighting," Estelle said.

Flynn glared at Yuri, and then turned to Estelle with a softened expression. "I'm sorry, Lady Estellise."

Further down the table, conversation had turned to argument about the morality of the Coliseum itself. Several of the council members were of the opinion that the entire thing was barbaric and should be outlawed, while Natz, Kaufman, Harry Whitehorse argued about people's right to fight if they wanted to. Before Yuri could join this conversation, the army of waiters returned and suddenly a plate of poached salmon appeared before him.

"Oh, dear," Ioder said quietly, watching the fight. "I was really hoping we could save the arguing for after dinner."

Katarina reached over and patted his hand. "Don't worry about it. They're still sitting in the same room and no one has drawn a weapon yet."

* * *

Just after Yuri and Karol left, Estelle had been having trouble getting ready to go. "Rita, which necklace goes better with this?" Estelle held yet another necklace up to her throat.

"It looks fine."

"You aren't even looking." She pouted as Rita kept her face down towards Jo, settling her into a blanket.

"It's a rock on your neck, you look great, get out." She glanced up to see what she was complaining about. All of them looked practically the same, just how many of these did she own?

"But I still haven't done my hair…."

"It's short, you don't need to do anything with it." Formal events were always the same disaster in getting ready. "You're going to be late."

She turned to check the clock and sighed. "I think this one works."

"Was that so hard?"

Oliver walked in, peeking over the edge of the couch to look in Jo's basket. "Is baby here?"

"She's staying here while Mom and Uncle Yuri go out." Rita lifted him up to look at her.

"Not wanna play with baby." He squirmed and tried to lower himself to the ground.

"Then go back to your room and play on your own for now." She put him down before he could kick the basket over.

"Want crayons." He tugged on her clothes and tried to pull her away.

"They're in your crayon box, go color." She ran her hand over his head briefly.

"Rita, can you help me pin my hair up? It won't stay." Estelle was fighting with a hairclip, hands twisted behind her head.

"That's because it's too short to work with." Rita groaned, but stood up and took her fancy hair pin.

She reached up, blindly holding up her hair. "Are you having trouble?" Estelle asked, barely tilting her head to the side to look back.

"Sit down," she grumbled.

"Hmm?"

"You're too tall, you have to sit down." Estelle started giggling behind her hand. "What's so funny about it?"

"Nothing." She smiled and pulled a chair over.

"Quiet down and sit still." She pulled her hair back and fastened the clip into her hair. "How's that."

"Perfect." Estelle tugged on her hair lightly to check that it would stay. She stood up to check her reflection in the mirror. "How do I look?"

Rita looked her up and down briefly. The dress was oversized and puffy, her jewelry was shiny and almost gaudy, and she didn't understand the fuss about finding the perfect pair of shoes because they weren't even visible. "I told you, you'd look great no matter what you put on." She flushed and occupied herself with putting the chair away.

"Yes, you were right." Estelle turned around to wrap her arms around Rita's middle while she was facing away. "I'm going to go now."

"Don't wrinkle your dress." She stood up and pulled away, arms crossed. "You'll spend another half hour here if you have to straighten it out."

"Of course." Estelle ran her hands down the skirt, smoothing the fabric back out. "I'll probably be back late tonight."

"I know, you're going to be late, hurry up." She put her hand on her shoulder and lightly pushed her towards the door.

"Alright, I'll be back when it's over." She stopped long enough to give Rita's hand a quick squeeze and closed the door behind her.

Rita locked the door and looked back into the room. Jo was still asleep in her basket on the couch, and Oliver must've sulked off into his room. She looked at Jo, moving her to the floor at her feet. "I don't see anyone throwing a fit about you sleeping in a box. You look happy." Jo responded by remaining asleep.

"Where Mom go?" Oliver walked out of his room, having heard the door.

"We told you earlier, she has to leave tonight."

"Why?" He looked up at her, face scrunching in frustration.

"She has a meeting." She looked at his face closer. "Is your mouth blue?"

"Crayons." He held up a short crayon, the end obviously chewed off.

"They're not for eating." She sighed and took it from him. "If you're hungry then just tell me."  
"Hungry." He reached out to take the crayon back.

"We'll find you some real food, stop that." She stood and put the crayon out of his reach. "Flynn left you something in the icebox." At least Flynn's food was probably better than eating wax.

"Want my crayons," he demanded.

"Stay there until I can wash your mouth out." She ignored him, putting something unidentifiable into the oven.

Jo woke up and began fussing lightly. It must've been time for her to eat too. They had bottles prepared for her already; she took one out and picked her up to quiet her.

"Mom." Oliver glared up at her, pulling on her pants. "Wanna play."

"You can wait." She took a spot on the couch so Oliver could sit next to her. Technically they were alone with Jo, no Yuri or Judith watching. If drawing blood didn't leave an obvious mark, she would have taken advantage of the situation. There had to be a less noticeable way to get a DNA sample.

"Don't like it." Oliver took hold of Jo's ear and pulled on it.

Rita swatted the back of his hand as Jo yelled out. "Stop, that hurts people. Do you want someone to pull your ears?"

Oliver looked like she had just yelled at him, and he stared at her as if he wasn't sure whether to just cry or scream out his frustrations. He thought silently before muttering, "No."

She quieted Jo quickly – she was much easier to handle than Oliver was – and convinced her to return to the bottle. "Then don't do it if you don't want it to happen to you." That sounded simple enough that he should understand it. She and Estelle were through with infants, and she was hardly willing to deal with any more screaming if it wasn't her own kid.

Jo was just about finished when Oliver pushed himself off the couch and walked away to play with a stuffed toy. He chattered at it, enacting a scene or just holding a conversation only he understood. "Don't go too far, your dinner should be almost done." If he heard, he didn't acknowledge it.

* * *

Over an hour later, Yuri took a sip from the drink he'd been given that he couldn't pronounce. It was slightly alcoholic, though he wouldn't even have been able to tell if he couldn't see the way Judith's cheeks flushed. There was a reason Judy rarely joined him when he went out drinking, and it was that she was typically totally gone after just two or three drinks.

There wasn't enough alcohol in this cocktail to seriously affect her, but she was a little bit tipsy and more than a little overly affectionate with Flynn. There was lipstick smudged on his collar and Judith took every opportunity to flirt with him to remind the table that he was her man. Flynn had gotten over his initial embarrassment and played along masterfully, wrapping his arm around her bare shoulders between courses and returning her flirting with sugary words of his own.

As far as Yuri was concerned, this had stopped being hilarious around the time Flynn stopped freaking out with every touch. Truthfully, watching Judy snuggle up against Flynn bothered him a lot more than he'd thought it would, but he wasn't going to mention it. They were doing this to help Flynn and Estelle, and it was just for the duration of dinner. At least that was nearly over. After the poached salmon he'd been served a dish of small tender steaks that had a fancy name he couldn't be bothered remembering. That had been followed by the massive main course consisting of lamb, roast duckling, beef sirloin, potatoes, peas and creamed carrots, rice, and this weird mushy potato and meat thing that had actually been pretty good. He was pretty full after all that, and enjoying the after-dinner cocktail as he waited for everything to wrap up.

"Wow, Estelle," Karol said, looking over at her, "I don't think I've ever seen you drink something alcoholic."

Estelle blushed a bit and looked down at her empty cocktail glass. "Oh, uh… well, I don't drink very often, but it would be rude to turn it down. I drink wine sometimes at dinners like this."

"Don't worry," Karol said. "I'm sure you'll never be as bad a drinker as Yuri is."

He nudged Yuri with his elbow, and Yuri glared at him. "Hey, I'm not that bad."

"You'd better hurry up, Yuri," Estelle said. "The waiters will be upset if you don't finish your Punch Romaine before the next course is served."

Yuri stared at her, and then glanced at Flynn in confusion. "…There's a next course?" He looked over at Karol. "Did you know there was a next course?"

Karol shrugged.

Estelle nodded. Her drink was already empty, and she explained, "This was a palate cleanser course, to take a rest before the next one."

"Why does there have to be a next one? I just ate three different animals on my plate at the same time!"

"This is how it's done, Yuri," Flynn said.

Yuri looked up and down the table and scowled. "All this food could feed a family in the Lower Quarter for a month."

Estelle looked awkwardly down at her empty glass while Flynn frowned. "That's true," Flynn said.

"Why don't you just take all this excess food from the castle and take it to the Lower Quarter?" Yuri asked. He grabbed the delicate cocktail glass and chugged the rest of it in one big gulp, and then wiped his lip on his sleeve. A few of the council members looked at him in horror, but Yuri couldn't bring himself to care about manners at this point.

"A noble dream," Katarina said. "But giving away food for free might destabilize the economy."

"That's great," Yuri said, "but children are starving to death and you don't want to give them food because it _might_ make the economy a bit shaky further down the road." He glared at Flynn, urging him to take his side on this. Out of everyone else at this table, Flynn should agree with him. Flynn surely remembered those long, hungry nights they'd had on the days when they couldn't scrape together enough gald to buy food for dinner. Back then, they'd talked about the magnificent feasts surely going on at the castle, mouths watering at the thought of all that food while condemning and demonizing the heartless nobles who feasted while the two of them starved. Now here they were, feasting with the emperor while other children were no doubt sitting in the Lower Quarter with empty stomachs and staring up at the castle longingly.

"Now hold on," Duke Hobbes said. "If these people are starving, why don't they just get jobs? I worked hard for my money and I see no reason why I should give any of it to those greedy slackers in the Lower Quarter."

Flynn gave Yuri a pointed look, one that quite clearly said 'don't you _dare_ start a fist fight at the dinner table.'

Instead, Yuri said, "Right, I understand. After all, why should you help those of us who didn't have the good sense to be born a duke and get everything handed to us on a silver platter?"

"I didn't ask for my position and I see no shame in using it to its full potential," Hobbes said. "Not everyone can be wealthy and that's just the way the world works."

Kaufman spoke up. "Purely from an economic standpoint, giving away food to the Lower Quarter wouldn't be sustainable. If nobody had to work for food, a huge number of small but essential jobs would suddenly no longer be done."

"I already said I don't care about that," Yuri said. "I'm not going to argue about economics when people are dying."

"You'd better start," Kaufman said. "If food is free, what incentive do the people who produce the food have to keep working? Then there's no food and then _everyone_ is starving."

"I'm not saying all food everywhere has to be free," Yuri said. He didn't really know what he was saying, because he didn't spend much time thinking about complex social theories and economic plans. He had a few key beliefs about people's rights to life and he'd stick to those. "All I'm saying is that it feels pretty scummy to be eating course after course longer after we've had our fill here when there are plenty of people who are still uncertain of if they'll even be getting a first course tonight."

The doors to the dining hall opened and the waiters returned. The cocktail glasses were taken away and another plate was set before them, this time consisting of some sort of small roast bird with some green stuff.

"Oh, good!" Ioder said with a forced smile. "Squab. How delicious."

"You're a naïve fool," a councilwoman said, ignoring Ioder's attempts at lightening the mood.

"No, Yuri has a point," Markham said. "There are numerous examples throughout history of great empires meeting their downfall thanks to extravagant over indulgence of the upper class."

"Look at it this way," Katarina said. "Did you see all those waiters come in? Those are all people who have jobs thanks to dinner parties like this. That goes for all the dish washers and chefs as well, and the farmers who produce our food. The more we eat, the more we employ. The indulgence of the upper class creates employment for those beneath."

"But you don't hire from the Lower Quarter!" Yuri said, stabbing his squab a little too harshly. "Almost all of your maids and waitresses are from the Public Quarter. You know how hard it is for someone from the Lower Quarter to get a job?"

"Yuri, this isn't the time for this," Flynn said. "I think you should-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Flynn. People are still suffering and you still haven't fixed it."

Flynn clenched his fork a bit too tightly. "It's rather a lot to fix, Yuri. I'm working on it."

"Nobody deserves to starve," Yuri said. "At the very least, no child does, especially when they're too young to even try getting a job themselves. Look at all this food – I'm certain you can afford to give some of it away." His mind went to Jo, and how determined he was to never, _ever_ let her go hungry. He and Judy had money, and he was damn sure he was going to give his daughter a better childhood than he had, but there were so many parents out there who couldn't do that for their kids and that pissed him off.

"You clearly have no understanding of how the world works, young man," an elderly councilman said.

"I know that people are dying and you're sitting here eating… whatever the hell squab is."

"It's pigeon," Estelle said helpfully.

Yuri did a double-take, looking down at the meat in horror. "Pigeon? You mean, those dirty winged rats?"

"They're not dirty," Estelle said. "They're raised specially for food."

"You can afford a dozen courses on a single meal and you voluntarily eat _pigeons_?" Yuri just didn't _get_ nobles.

"It's… pigeon?" Karol said, poking his with his fork suspiciously. "I didn't know people ate those…"

"Awww, Flynnie," Judith said, leaning on him, "I don't want to eat pigeons. They're so cute."

Flynn patted her shoulder. "It's ok, Betty, these pigeons were raised to be eaten."

"Hmmm, if you say so, sweetie."

Yuri scowled at them. This was not a fun night.

* * *

Jo was sleeping in the basket when Rita checked the oven. Oliver's dish, which Rita wouldn't have been able to name even she wanted to put that much thought into its contents, was almost done. "Oliver, get in here."

"No." He stayed in the living room, smacking a stuffed eggbear into the floor repeatedly.

"Get in here and eat, dammit." She picked him up and carried him to the table, sitting him in the chair and handing him the plate.

"Dammit," he repeated.

She tapped him lightly on the nose. "Watch your mouth around Mom, she'll be home later." He rubbed his nose and sat up to eat. "I'm going to check on Jo, alright?" Oliver didn't answer, ignoring her to stuff his face instead.

Jo had fallen asleep, snuggled deep into the blankets. Rita moved some of her hair aside to look at the base of her antenna. They didn't seem much different from what she had seen on full-blooded Krityans, aside from the size. The light feathery bit didn't seem any different, but the longer extensions were almost nonexistent, buried close to her scalp.

"You wouldn't mind if I ran any tests would you?" Her voice woke Jo, and she yawned and looked up to her. "See, you don't look like you care. Why can't your permission count?" Jo only stared forward, eyes wide. Rita fussed with her hair for a few minutes before yanking out a few strands. "They won't notice anything." Jo grunted in displeasure, but didn't notice otherwise.

"Done!" Oliver hit his fork against his empty plate several times. "Want down."

"You can get yourself down, it's just a chair."

"Mom help." He kicked his legs and reached towards her, making no attempt to move. Rita groaned, but set Jo's hair aside and propped her up against the back of the couch.

"You're old enough to get off a chair without help." She scooted him off, ignoring his continuous glares when he wasn't coddled.

"I wanna play."

"Let's go play with Jo, we have to watch her." He followed her into the living room, pulling himself onto the couch next to Jo.

"Why is her hair?" Leaning over, he took a fistful of her antenna. Unhappy with Oliver's new hobby of yanking her around, she screamed and pulled away.

"Oliver, let go!" Rita grabbed his hand and moved him away from her. "You can't pull hair like that."

"But hair," he protested. "It's weird and goes out." He put his hands on the back of his head and fanned his fingers, imitating her antenna.

Rita picked up Jo to silence her wailing. "She's like Aunt Judith. They just look like that because they're called Krityan."

"Crispy ant?"

"Close enough." Jo was thankfully easy to calm down. She held her up in front of Oliver. "Can you apologize?"

"Sorry, baby." He didn't look apologetic, but at least he stopped making her cry. "Can we color?"

"She's too young to color. You can have your crayons back if you don't eat them." It felt ridiculous that she would have to tell somebody to not eat wax, even if they were a toddler.

"Not hungry. Color with me." He pulled on her arm as hard as he could.

"I'm busy, just bring them out here." She rocked Jo back and forth to put her back to sleep. Oliver scowled, but sulked away back into his room.

* * *

"This is actually pretty good," Yuri said, cutting into the second bite of the strange new dish that was brought out after the asparagus vinaigrette. It was soft and buttery and served with a side of celery. "But, uh, what exactly is a 'fwa graw'?"

"It's a fatty duck liver," Estelle explained.

Yuri paused, his knife halfway through another piece. "A… what?"

"A duck liver," Estelle said. "They overfeed a duck so that its liver becomes extremely fatty."

Yuri stared down at his dish with new eyes. "That's… kind of disgusting."

"It's a delicacy," Estelle said, slightly put out.

"Maybe the reason only a few people get to eat it is that only a few people _want_ to eat it," Yuri suggested, putting his knife and fork down.

"Don't be a child, Yuri," Flynn said. "Eat your dinner."

"I _have_ eaten my dinner. At least six times."

"Please don't feel obliged to eat it," Ioder said. "If it isn't to your taste, I will not be offended if you don't finish it."

"There, see?" Yuri said. "It's fine." He crossed his arms and pushed his plate slightly away from him. "How many dishes are there, anyway? This is getting ridiculous. I couldn't eat another bite."

"Only one more after this," Estelle said. "Dessert."

Yuri's eyes lit up. "On second thought, maybe I'm not as full as I thought I was."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "You're such a child, Yuri."

Yuri sneered at him, and decided to pay attention to what was happening at the other end of the table. There was, of course, another argument.

"It's ridiculous that you even allow such a thing to exist," one of the councilwomen said.

Harry Whitehorse shrugged. "The Union isn't big on telling people what kind of guilds they're allowed to form."

Yuri looked to Karol. "What are they talking about?"

"The Black Hand," Karol said. "It's an assassin's guild."

Yuri furrowed his brow. "There's an assassin's guild?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Karol said.

"Ok… kick me for siding with the Council, but why _do_ we allow that?"

"Because," Markham said, looking over at him, "telling the assassin's guild they're not allowed to assassinate people is a great way to get assassinated."

Duke Hobbes snorted. "You allow a rogue guild to murder people because you aren't powerful enough to stand up to them? Some Union."

"It's not that bad," Harry said. "You make it sound like they run around murdering people for kicks. The Black Hand is highly organized and operates on strict rules and principles. Plus, they always leave a receipt."

"But they're still killing people," Yuri said.

Flynn, looking slightly bored and slightly smug, said, "You're right, Yuri. It is incredibly unjust for one person to decide to take a life outside the law. How incredibly immoral."

Yuri glared at Flynn, who glared right back. Estelle, Karol, and Judy glanced between them nervously, while Ioder and Katarina were confused at the sudden icy tone. Ioder cleared his throat and then said, "The legality of the Black Hand is a Union matter. It doesn't concern us."

"Sure it does," one of the Council people said. "What happens if the guild is hired to kill a member of the empire?"

"Ah," Ioder said. "That's actually the matter we're going to discuss later tonight. We need to come to an agreement on the extradition policy between the empire and the union. But, I believe that can wait until after dessert."

As he spoke, the doors opened again and the waiters returned to place mountains of cake, pie, ice cream, pudding, cookies, and assorted sweets on the table. Yuri stared at the massive collection of sugary goods and his mouth watered. He was full. He was _really_ full because he'd just had nine courses of food and was certain he couldn't eat another bite. But, that chocolate cake looked _really_ good… Ok, maybe just one.

"Besides," Harry was saying, "I don't think that's ever happened."

"Actually," Flynn said, raising his hand slightly, "I'm told an assassin was sent after me when I was still a lieutenant."

"Oh, that's right!" Estelle said. "I always forget that Zagi's original target was you."

"Was Zagi from the Black Hand?" Karol asked.

Yuri shrugged. "If what Harry says about having strict rules and principles is true, I doubt it. Anyway, who cares? He's dead now."

"That's a special case," Kaufman said. "The whole world was in chaos around the time of the Adephagos crisis."

"Forcing the Black Hand to break up would not stop anyone from killing people," Harry said. "If there weren't assassins to hire, there would still be killings, they'd just be messier and they wouldn't leave a receipt. Plus, we'd have a handful of very angry, recently unemployed, and highly skilled and dangerous people upset with us. Keeping them around isn't ideal, but it's better than the alternative."

"Hmph," one of the council people said. "In any case, we certainly wouldn't allow that kind of barbarity in the empire."

Yuri stuck to eating his cake. He didn't even want to get into this fight. He didn't like Harry's practical excuse for allowing assassins to run rampant, but he didn't want to side with the Council on anything, so he kept quiet and concentrated on cake. This was the longest dinner he'd ever sat through and he was eager to be finished. The fact that there was still serious political debate to be had afterward killed him. It frustrated him almost as much as the way Judith was currently nuzzling Flynn's neck. _It's just for tonight_, he reminded himself.

At long last, the dessert plates were cleared and dinner was finally over. Ioder was the first to get up. "Thank you everyone for joining me for dinner. Your company was greatly appreciated. Now, we shall retire to the sitting room to talk business."

There was a chorus of chair scrapes as every rose. "Man, am I ever glad that's over," Yuri said to Flynn as they walked to the door. "I couldn't eat another bite."

"It's not over," Flynn said. "In the sitting room there will be coffee and cookies."

Yuri gave him an incredulous look. "Are you serious? How do nobles eat this much?"

Flynn shrugged. "I guess it seems normal if you're used to it."

"Betty," Katarina said, "come with me. This meeting is only for empire and guild officials."

"Aw, ok," Judith said. She kissed Flynn on the cheek while Yuri tried to withhold a glare. "I'll see you later, Flynnie."

She, Katarina, and a collection of council members' spouses headed off in the other direction while Yuri followed Flynn to the sitting room. Flynn glanced over at Yuri apologetically. In a low voice, he said, "Yuri… I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? It's just a dumb act."

"Yuri-"

"Hey, Captain Karol," Yuri said, walking ahead. "Are you ready for the meeting?"

"I guess so," Karol said.

"Great. Then let's get this over with."

* * *

Eventually Jo fell asleep, and everything was quiet. Oliver had been silent the whole time, staying in his room. He never hid in his room like this, and she wondered if he put himself to bed early.

"Hey Oliver, you in here?" She opened the door to his room. He was sitting on the floor surrounded by toys, mostly smacking them into each other. "What's wrong?"

He heard her voice and whipped his head in her direction. "Don't wanna share." He walked to her and wrapped his small arms around her legs, burying his face in her knees.

Rita sighed and looked down awkwardly, not sure how to handle it. She pulled him off just long enough to crouch down and hug him back. This touchy-feely talk was something Estelle usually dealt with for her. "I'm still here, okay?"

"Don't like baby." He settled his face under her chin.

"You'll be fine, she's only here for tonight." She straightened up and thought. Apparently he was feeling ignored, so that should be easy to fix. "How about we go have ice cream? Just you and me." Ice cream was one of the few foods that he would eat without arguing. He stepped back and rubbed his eyes, nodding. She stood up and held his hand, letting him lead her into the kitchen.

"What do you want on yours?" She took the bowls out of the cabinet and looked down at him.

"Draw berry." He grinned, waiting impatiently on the floor and watched her slice strawberries. The instant he thought she was done, he ran up to the table and dragged himself onto a chair.

"Chill out, you'll tire yourself out like that." She gave him his bowl and sat next to him, watching him excitedly tear through it. "You're a really messy eater."

"Thank you." He wiped it off his face, only succeeding in smearing it on his hands and spoon.

"What did you do today while I was gone?" Maybe he didn't understand everything, but he was cheering up just by being spoken to.

"Blocks," he said around a mouthful of fruit.

"That sounds fun. Building blocks can make you smarter, did you know that?"

"I'm smart. I play colors." Jo interrupted by waking up, crying to catch someone's attention.

"Hold on Oliver, I'll be right back." Rita pushed her chair up to take Jo out of her basket. She rubbed her back and bounced her up and down until she quieted down.

"Mooom," Oliver whined. Ice cream could wait; he rolled himself off the chair to latch onto Rita's leg again.

"Go wash your face, you're sticky." He had all but coated his exposed skin with melted ice cream and seemed intent on sharing it.

"Help me." Even if he was just being stubborn again, he couldn't reach the sink on his own. He reached his hands up, asking to be carried.

"I'll help you when I'm done, be patient." Jo was quiet, but Rita didn't want to put her down if she was just going to cry again. From her own experience with Oliver, the instant she put Jo down, she was going to get upset and scream.

"No patient." He curled his hands into fists and scowled at the floor, shoulders sagging.

"Learn how." She tried to shake him off as she walked away, but he took small steps to keep pace. "Go sit down and behave."

"I'm being have."

Jo was quiet enough to risk leaving her unattended. She put her back down in the basket and dragged Oliver into the kitchen to wash off his hands. "You need to get out and meet more people."

"No." It was unlikely that he even understood what she was saying, but he got in these stubborn moods frequently.

"Yes, you need to learn to share."

He tried to back up and shook his head as she wiped off his mouth. "No share."

"People share with you. I share your Mom."

He looked at her, face twisted in confusion. "Don't wanna share Mom. _My_ Mom."

"Well, what about Uncle Yuri? You share him with Jo, can't Jo share your moms too?"

Oliver crossed his arms and stubbornly shook his head. "_My_ Uncle Yuri."

He was being way too possessive. _This is Estelle's fault_, Rita thought. She coddled him too much, and he was too used to having everyone in the castle treat him like an entitled prince. Well, he _was_ an entitled prince, but he didn't have to act like it. This was why she wanted to get him out of the castle and into a preschool with regular kids. "No, Oliver. Yuri isn't yours. If anything, he belongs to Jo. He's _her_ dad."

"What means her dad?"

"Ah…." She paused, wondering how to get it through. She knew Oliver must be aware of the idea of a male parent because Estelle was always complaining that his books all had mother and father families. But, he was probably still too young to fully understand the concept without personal experience. "Uncle Yuri is like Jo's mom."

"Oh. Is he my mom?" She almost wished Yuri was there to hear Oliver wishing that he was his mom.

"No, you already have moms. Jo is sharing hers."

"But it's Uncle Yuri." He pouted, apparently putting it together.

"He's your Uncle Yuri because she shares. Jo shares her dad with you, so you need to share your mom with her, okay?"

"Okay." He fidgeted and followed her as she walked away. "You're my mom?"

"Yes, I'm still your mom." She found Jo awake in the basket, staring up at the ceiling and wriggling around a bit. "Want to help put her to sleep?"

"No." His answer was more reflex than anything.

"Yes you do, get over here." It was getting time for him to sleep, too. She sat on the couch sideways, legs stretched out and Jo held up. Oliver crawled up to sit on her lap, leaning back and resting on her chest.

Rita held Jo up against Oliver. "Now hold on soft, okay?" He looked upset that she was so close, but he held his arms around her carefully. "Rock back and forth like this." She rocked the both of them, holding them carefully.

"Baby sleeping?" His eyes were half closed as he nearly dozed off.

"I hope so. You sleep too." He tried to protest, but sleepily babbled. It wasn't long before the both of them nodded off.

Rita leaned back and glanced at the clock. Still over an hour until the meeting was scheduled to end. She realized she couldn't move with both Oliver and Jo asleep on top of her. If they woke up, they would either cry or fight again. That left her pinned down and staring at the ceiling, waiting for it to be over.

* * *

The meeting ran much later than Yuri had been expecting. Getting everyone in the room to agree on whether or not imperial criminals who defected to the Union had to be turned over to the knights took hours. Flynn, of course, had adamantly argued in favour of extradition, and for once Yuri agreed with him. He didn't like the idea of criminals using the Union to run away from punishment. It gave the guilds a bad name, and he didn't want criminals in the Union in the first place. Of course, what he thought didn't _really_ matter. He didn't get a vote, because he was just here as backup for Karol. Thankfully, Karol agreed with him.

Harry Whitehorse wasn't on the same level. He thought it gave the empire too much power and that once someone revoked their citizenship and joined a guild, they should only be dealt with by the Union. Natz took his side, while Markham agreed with Yuri and Karol. The ambassador from the Soul Smiths didn't make her position clear for several hours. She sat quietly, occasionally asking a question, until she'd finally said that the Soul Smiths would only support an extradition policy more complex than 'all criminals must be turned over.'

This was a grey area the others could get behind. After many long hours of debate, they had finally settled on an agreement that criminals who had committed capital offences would be turned over after their crimes were reviewed by the Union, but minor offences would be handled by the Union's own laws. This agreement also applied to the empire in the case of criminals from the Union fleeing back to the empire. In the end, nobody was happy with all the details, which Harry said was the mark of a proper political agreement. Yuri was a bit sceptical about this, but it was past midnight and he wanted to go home with Judy and Jo so he wouldn't argue it.

"Well, that was relatively painless," Flynn said as they walked out into the hell. He arched his back, stretching as he added, "Though I should head to bed. I have to be at work early tomorrow."

Yuri looked at him in amusement. "Flynn, you are the commandant. Nobody in the knights outranks you. Who the hell do you think will yell at you if you show up late for work?"

"Nobody," Flynn said. "Except I'd be furious with myself."

From across the hall, another door opened and Judith appeared. The council members met up with their designated spouses, while Judith walked up to Flynn. "Oh, _Flynn_," she gushed. "I had such a lovely evening! You'll be taking me out again, right?"

"Er, of course, Betty," he said.

"I love you so much, Flynn!" Judith grabbed the sides of his face and planted a kiss right on his lips. Flynn's arms flailed around, not sure what to do at this shocking turn of events. His eyes darted around, and noticed the council members staring at them. He quickly composed himself and wrapped his arms around Judith. His eyes darted to the side one more time to meet Yuri's. He didn't have to say anything for Yuri to know he was apologizing.

The Council, at the very least, was convinced of their relationship at this point. That was good, wasn't it? That's what this was all about. Yuri was happy that Flynn and Estelle were off the hook. But… that didn't stop his mind from wandering to every other girl he'd have crushed in in his teenage years, and remembering how after getting close to them, every single one turned out to be hoping he'd introduce them to his handsome friend. Flynn was charming, Flynn was cute, Flynn was sweet, and funny, and noble, and kind… and it made Yuri sick. He couldn't resent his best friend for being more popular, and it was stupid – so childishly _stupid_ – to think that Judith meant anything in this kiss. He felt foolish for even considering either of them would betray him like that… but that didn't make watching that kiss any less painful.

"Are you ok, Yuri?" Karol asked.

"I'm fine," he said stiffly. The last thing he wanted to do was sob about his romantic drama like a teenage girl. Finally Flynn and Judith broke it off, and Yuri turned away to talk to Natz. "Glad we got that agreement worked out, huh? Man, that took forever."

"These things typically do," he said. He patted Yuri on the shoulder, and then said, "I'd better get going. I want to make it to the harbour in time to catch the morning ship back to Nordopolica.

"Have a good trip," Karol said.

"We should go pick up Jo," Yuri said when Judith and Flynn walked over to him.

"I'm just going to head back to my place," Flynn said. "I'm pretty tired. Judith, Yuri, I can't thank you enough for doing this."

"It was my pleasure," Judith said with a smile.

Yuri kept his face level. He wasn't going to be petty. Judith meant it had been her pleasure to help, not that it had been pleasurable making out with Flynn. "Just glad we could help."

Estelle came over with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"We're just leaving," Yuri said.

"Ok! Goodnight, Flynn, have a nice day tomorrow."

Flynn bowed his head slightly and said, "You as well, Lady Estellise."

When he was gone, the other four set off for Estelle's home. She walked with a bounce in her step and said, "Well, that was fun."

Yuri gave her a dry look. "I'm not sure if 'fun' is the word I'd use."

Estelle frowned. "Well… the dinner at least was nice."

"Sure," Yuri said. He didn't agree, but there was no point debating it.

"I'm just glad we got that settled," Karol said.

"I think the food was nice," Judith said.

"Sure," Karol said. "Except when we started eating pigeons and duck livers. I'll stick with roast chicken, thanks."

"I'll agree with you there, Captain Karol," Yuri said. "Nobles are weird."

Estelle pouted. "I think those things taste lovely."

Judith smiled and diplomatically said, "It all depends on what you're used to."

Estelle unlocked the door when they reached her home and led them inside. Across from them, they saw Rita sleeping on the couch with both Oliver and Jo sleeping on top of her. "Oh, no," Estelle whispered. "Shhh… if we wake up Oliver he might never get back to sleep."

Judith crossed the room and carefully picked up a sleeping Jo. "Looks like they're all tuckered out," she said softly.

"Yuri," Estelle said, "would you mind carrying Oliver to his bed?"

"Sure." He picked Oliver up gently, trying not to wake him. With Oliver's head resting on his shoulder, he walked down the hall to Oliver's room. He shifted Oliver a bit to free up a hand to open the door, and Oliver moved a bit. Yuri glanced at him, worried that he'd woken him up.

"Uncle Yuri…" Oliver mumbled.

"That's right, kid, now go back to sleep."

"Not my mom," Oliver said sleepily.

Yuri frowned a bit. "Uh, that's right, I'm not."

"But is baby's mom… and baby shares with me… ok?"

Yuri set Oliver down in his bed. "I'm not Jo's mom," he said in confusion. "Jo's mom is Aunt Judy, remember?"

Oliver rubbed his eyes a bit, trying to stay awake as Yuri pulled the covers up around him. "Uncle Yuri still likes me? Even though has baby?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I still like you."

"Ok."

Yuri ruffled his hair. "Go to sleep, kid." He left the nursery and rejoined Judy, Karol, and Estelle in the main room. "Did you know Oliver thinks I'm Jo's mom?"

"W-what?" Estelle said, staring at him in shock.

Judith gave him an amused smile. "Well, maybe if you cut your hair…"

Yuri pouted the way he always did when Judith brought up his hair. "I don't want to cut my hair."

"People may stop mistaking you for a woman," she pointed out.

"Yeah, well that's their problem."

"I'm sorry, Yuri," Estelle said. "It's probably just because he doesn't have a dad and thinks 'mom' is the only parental option."

"Don't worry about. It's not a big deal; I just thought it was kind of funny." He looked down at the couch and asked, "Do you want me to carry Rita to bed too?"

"No!" Estelle said quickly, and then lowered her voice. "Um, no. If she found out you carried her to bed she'd probably be furious. She's slept on the couch before; she'll be fine."

"Alright," Yuri said. "We'd better get going, then. We're heading back to the Fiertia so we'll be in Dahngrest when we wake up."

"Ok, have a good night," Estelle said.

Karol waved. "See you later, Estelle."

Half an hour later, Yuri stretched out on the bunk in the Fiertia's cabin, ready to go to sleep. Karol was still on deck looking over a map for a guild mission next week, and Jo was snuggled into the box Karol had made for her the first day. They'd been using it as her travelling crib for the past few months, although she was nearly outgrowing it.

"Going to bed?" Judy asked, crossing the room and sitting on the side of the bed.

"I think so. I'm exhausted."

Judith was quiet for a moment, and then said, "Are you still upset about me kissing Flynn?"

Yuri's heart skipped a beat. "I'm not upset."

Judy rested her hand on his shoulder. "You're a bad liar. You know it didn't mean anything, right?"

"Of course I know that. I'm not upset."

"Hm… come here." She pulled on his arm.

"Judy, I'm trying to go to bed."

"Just come with me."

Yuri sighed and allowed himself to be pulled from bed. Judith dragged him across the room to Jo's crate. She wrapped her arm around Yuri's waist and said, "If I wanted to, I could probably get almost any man in Terca Lumireis to sleep with me. I am quite good looking, and I've probably had more offers for sex than most girls."

Yuri looked down at her with a small frown. "Is this supposed to make me feel better?"

"I won't lie – Flynn is a very handsome man, and he's nice, too. I like him."

"Yeah, this really isn't helping."

"The point is, a woman like me could probably get any man I wanted. I could have gone after Flynn ten years ago when we were all resting in Aurnion after the Adephagos. But, I didn't. For some reason, I went after his dumb, impulsive, cynical, ridiculous friend who needs a haircut."

"You are _terrible_ at consoling people, you know that?"

She squeezed his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. "And now look at that. I could have had a baby with anyone, but I had her with _you_. She only exists because I love you so much I couldn't keep my hands off you even when we ran out of birth control. And you think a silly little kiss means anything?"

"I know it doesn't."

Judith wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him, and Yuri wasted no time in returning the kiss. It was amazing how soft lips on his face and warm hands on his neck could be so much more comforting than words.

After nearly a minute, they parted for air and Judith said, "Well?"

Yuri grinned. "I am a way better kisser than Flynn, huh?"

Judith smirked. "He's not even in your league." She paused, and then added, "Although, at least his hair doesn't get in the way."

Yuri frowned. "I like my hair."

"How did I fall for such a ridiculous man with such ridiculous hair? Now, come on, we probably have at least two hours before Jo wakes up again." She started pulling him toward the bed.

"What? Judy, no, I love you, but I'm exhausted. I just want to go to sleep."

"What did you think I meant? I'm the one who has to get up and feed her. Let's get some wonderful sleep."

"I like the sound of that." Yuri wondered what it meant about his life that when he was looking forward to sleeping with Judith, he literally meant he just wanted to sleep with her now. No one had warned him that having a baby meant turning into an insomniac.


	17. Science!

**Chapter Seventeen: Science!**

"All blastia are gone. I want them back."

"That's right!" Estelle said, clapping excitedly. "Oliver, you did it!"

Oliver looked up from the book with a smile, clearly pleased that he had made his mom so happy. "I can't believe you can read," she said, beaming. He was still three months away from being three! She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and hugged him against her as they sat curled up on the couch together. "Mom is going to be so excited!"

"Ok," Oliver said. "What is blastia?" he asked.

Estelle thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain. Judith had gotten the book "I want My Blastia Back" as a gag gift for Rita ages ago, but now it become one of Oliver's favourites and she read it to him almost every day. Still, she realized that she'd never actually explained to him what blastia had been. "They're like… magic rocks," she said. "But the magic rocks were hurting people, so Mom and I, and Uncle Yuri and Aunt Judy and Karol and Raven, made all the blastia go away."

"Oh. Ok."

Estelle was about to turn the page when the door opened and Rita trudged in. She tossed her folder of notes on the chair by the door, walked straight across the room, and sat down next to Oliver without speaking.

"Um… are you ok?" Estelle asked as Rita leaned back against the couch.

"Fine," she said. "Long day."

"Did you… uh… discover any new scientific breakthroughs?"

Rita shrugged.

"Mom, Mom!" Oliver said, clambering onto her lap. "I read! I read!"

Rita raised her head to look down at him. "What? Really?"

Estelle grinned. "Yes! He did it just now. Here, Oliver, show Mom!" She turned to the next page and held the book out on front of Oliver. Oliver sat up a bit to look at hit, making Rita wince as his weight dug into her lap.

"Have you seen the blastia? No I have not seen the blastia. Thank you anyway." Then he looked to Rita with an expectant smile.

"Impressive," Rita said. She thought for a moment, and then grabbed the book out of Estelle's hands, flipping through it. She landed on a random page, and then held it out again with her hand over the illustration. "Read this one, Oliver."

Oliver stared at the page, and this his face scrunched up in confusion and he looked to Rita piteously.

"Thought so," Rita said, closing the book and putting it on the coffee table. "He's not reading, Estelle, he's just memorized it because you've read it to him so many times."

"Oh…" Estelle's good mood crashed, but she reached over and stroked Oliver's hair, saying, "That's ok. That's still very impressive memorization."

"So, what did you guys do all day?" Rita asked.

"Um… actually… we looked at preschools," she said. "Just brochures. We're trying to do this discreetly and I'm not really a discreet person, so we couldn't go in person."

"You actually looked through all those pamphlets I got?"

Estelle nodded. She still didn't feel entirely ready to send Oliver to preschool, but they had agreed to send him when he was three and that was only a few months away. There was also the fact that after observing Oliver's clingy behaviour whenever Jo came around, Estelle saw what Rita meant about getting him to meet other people. If Oliver had the chance to go to a normal preschool and be treated like a normal kid, it would go a long way in helping him to not grow up as a spoiled brat.

With that in mind, she'd poured over ever brochure Rita could find. Oliver had helped, pointing out the ones he thought looked nice. If Oliver had to spend his day there, he deserved some input on which one he attended. Not _too_ much, of course, because he'd pulled a brochure out for a place that felt the need to advertise they had gotten rid of their rodent problem, which Oliver picked because he liked the picture of a duck on the cover.

"There are a few that look promising," Estelle said. "They're in the Public Quarter, but the upper districts. They've got good reviews and the pictures look very nice."

"Great," Rita said.

She seemed distracted about something. Rita had been distracted and exhausted a lot lately, Estelle had noticed. She came home late and left earlier in the morning, and grumbled around the house muttering about science and mice and chemicals. Estelle had asked what she was so upset about weeks ago, but after a rambling rant using lots of words Estelle didn't know, she'd decided not to ask again.

"I talked to Flynn, too," Estelle said. "He said that once we picked one, to let him know and he'd do background checks on all the staff and make sure it's safe. He said that if we're determined to put him in a normal preschool for Public Quarter kids, it would be safer if we kept his identity secret, just in case."

"What, register him under a fake name?" Rita asked, looking down at Oliver and rubbing his shoulder as Oliver snuggled against her chest.

Estelle nodded. "He said the senior staff should know who he really is, but that the other staff and parents should think of him as just another kid."

"That makes sense," Rita said. "If the staff working with him know he's a prince, he'll probably end up with special treatment, which is what we're trying to avoid."

"Right, exactly," Estelle said. "Flynn says we should sign him up under the name Oliver Mordio, and then you will have to be the one to drop him off and pick him up. Is that ok? I know you're really busy with work, but I'm pretty recognizable."

Rita frowned slightly, but nodded nonetheless. "It's a pain, but you're right. Calling him Oliver Mordio won't help if the princess is seen picking him up at the end of the day."

"Good." She'd been worried that Rita would be too busy with all her science work to make the detour to pick him up every day.

"When is Flynn supposed to find the time to do background checks?" Rita asked. "Isn't he busy moonlighting as a wedding planner?"

Estelle laughed a bit. "Hopefully not for too much longer." The royal wedding between Ioder and Katarina was swiftly approaching, and Flynn, being Flynn, had taken on as many responsibilities as he could. Ioder had asked Flynn to be his best man, which Flynn had taken to mean he needed to oversee the guest list, organize the decorations, select the flowers, and dozens of other menial tasks that really ought to be left to the officially hired wedding planners. Estelle loved Flynn, but sometimes she thought he really needed to relax. He was so eager to take every job on himself that he ended up swamped with work because he didn't know how to delegate.

"Seriously, that man is going to kill himself," Rita said. "I won't feel sorry for him because he brought this on himself."

"I suppose," Estelle said. She knew Flynn brought it on himself, but she still felt bad whenever she saw how stressed or exhausted he was. She hadn't even invited him over for tea in ages because she knew Flynn was too polite to refuse even if he would spend the entire afternoon worrying about everything he needed to do.

They sat quietly for a few minutes. Rita leaned over and rested her head on Estelle's shoulder while Oliver sat contentedly on her lap. Estelle reached over and rested her hand on Rita's arm. She didn't know what was wrong, but Rita was clearly almost as stressed about work as Flynn was and she wanted to offer some comfort.

"Hey… Estelle?" Rita said after a little while.

"What's wrong, Rita?"

"Hm… speaking hypothetically, let's say someone told you not to do something, but then you did it anyway, but then you found out something that the first person ought to know, but you don't know if you should tell them because then you'd have to admit that you did the thing they told you not to do."

"Uh…" Estelle stared at Rita for a second. With a bit of disapproval, she said, "Rita, what did you do?"

Rita frowned and then sighed. "You know how Yuri and Judith told me not to do any tests on Jo?"

Estelle gasped a bit. "Rita, you didn't!"

"Just a few hairs!" Rita said, sitting up. "She didn't even notice."

"Still," Estelle said, "how would you feel if someone did medical testing on Oliver without your knowledge?"

"That's not the point," Rita said. "Morality aside, I already took her hair and did some research and I found something that I think Yuri and Judith deserve to know."

Estelle allowed her indignation to drop to make room for trepidation. "Is it something bad?"

"Well… it's not _good_," Rita said.

"Tell me," Estelle said.

Rita explained. Estelle's face gradually fell. "I… see," Estelle said when Rita finished. She looked to Oliver, feeling thankful that he had never had any health problems, but also feeling a bit guilty about feeling that way. "If it concerns their daughter, you need to tell them," Estelle said. "They'll probably be mad at you, but they need to know."

Rita sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."

"Because you know I'm right."

"Yeah, yeah." She picked up Oliver and set him on the ground so she could get up. "I'll go write them a letter."

"Rita!" Estelle said. "You can't just dump this on them in a letter. You need to tell them in person."

"When?" Rita asked. "They won't be in town until Ioder's wedding, and that's months away."

"Write them a letter requesting they come visit us whenever they can."

"Alright, alright," Rita said, wandering away to the study to get paper and an envelope.

Once she was gone, Estelle grabbed Oliver off the ground and pulled him back up to her lap. She squeezed him tightly and held him close against her chest.

Oliver struggled. "Mom, let go."

Estelle rested her cheek against Oliver's head. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I love you so much."

* * *

"Welcome home," Judith said as Yuri and Repede walked through the front door.

"Hey, Judy," Yuri said, tossing his bag on the floor and closing the door. He'd been gone for a bit under a week, accompanying some other members of the guild on a raid to clear out a monster infestation near Capua Torim.

"Did you have fun fighting monsters?" Judy asked. She stood in the kitchen, slicing cheese for a sandwich.

"Not the same without you, Judy." He missed the days when the two of them could fly carelessly around the world whenever they wanted. In the nine months that they had Jo, getting away from Dahngrest happened a lot less often and usually only one of them went at a time. Still, Yuri thought as he looked at the girl lying on a blanket by the couch, he wouldn't trade her in for anything in the world.

Repede walked over to Jo, sniffed her a bit and then licked her face. Jo smiled brightly and waved her arms at him, trying to grab his fur. Satisfied, Repede walked away and curled up on the floor to watch.

"Do you want a sandwich?" Judith asked.

"That would be great, thanks." Yuri crossed the room and sat down cross-legged in front of Jo. She lay on her back, chewing on the tail of a stuffed animal. "Hey, is that…?" Yuri looked closer at the stuffed toy, and then looked over his shoulder at Judith, "Where did you get a tiny stuffed Ba'ul?"

"I found it in the closest," Judith said. "You bought it for me on our journey, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Yuri said. "I didn't know you still had that."

"Of course I kept it," Judith said. "It was from you. Anyway, I was putting things away and it fell off the shelf. I thought Jo might like it."

"I don't know if this is a good idea," Yuri said, looking down at her. "We might be teaching her that Ba'ul is edible."

"If she ever bites Ba'ul we can deal with that when it comes."

Yuri smiled a bit and looked down at her. "Anything new happen while I was gone?" He recalled Estelle saying that Oliver had started standing on his own while clinging to furniture around this age, and was eagerly anticipating Jo starting to walk herself. It would be nice to not have to carry her everywhere, although she still wasn't very heavy at all.

"Nothing new," Judith said. "Not since she started sitting up before you left."

"Hm…" Yuri said. "Maybe we should be encouraging her more? Come here, Jo." He grabbed her sides and pulled her upright. "Can you stand?" She stared at him in confusion, her legs wobbling as Yuri held her in a standing position. Yuri slowly loosened his grip, intending to get her standing on her own legs using his hands only to hold her balanced. Once he let her go, however, her legs wobbled and she dropped down onto her bottom.

"Don't push her," Judith said, looking over from the kitchen as she finished off the sandwiches. "She'll stand when she's ready."

"I guess… but I think she should be doing it by now. Remember how Flynn said Oliver once crawled around his office and got pencils everywhere? That was when Oliver was eight months old." Yuri picked Jo up and laid her down on her stomach, and then took the Ba'ul plushie and set on the ground a couple feet away. Jo pushed on the ground with her arms, raising her trunk as her eyes locked on the plushie. She whined and reached one arm forward, trying to grab it.

"Get it, Jo," Yuri said. "I know you want it. Just crawl forward and get it."

Judith walked over with two sandwiches on a plate. She set the plate down on the coffee table, and said, "Yuri, stop tormenting your daughter."

"Look, she clearly wants to crawl forward and get it," Yuri said. "But she can't."

Judith grabbed the Ba'ul doll and handed it back to Jo, who squealed in delight and then rolled over onto her back. "Do you think something is wrong?"

"Oliver started crawling when he was seven months old. Jo is nine months old and she can't even get herself on her hands and knees yet."

Judith frowned and sat down on the couch. "Well… all babies learn things at their own pace."

"Yeah, but Oliver is my kid, too. He and Jo share half of their blood, so I feel like they should learn things at around the same pace."

"I'm not sure if that's how it works, Yuri."

"She should be standing by now, but she's not even crawling," Yuri said. He stared at her with concern, feeling frustrated by his helplessness. When something was wrong, Yuri liked to fix it. But now the thing that was wrong was his daughter, who was more important to him than anything, and he didn't have any idea what to do to help her. He reached out and grabbed Jo, pulling her into his lap. He forced a smile and said, "I knew you were a freak, kid, but not to this extreme. What's wrong with you now, huh?"

She was really small, he thought. Had Oliver been this small? He didn't think so, but maybe he was misremembering. Were they doing something wrong? Neither he nor Judith knew what they were doing, and though they'd said they could figure it out as they went along, what if they'd messed up? What if they weren't feeding her enough or giving her enough rest? Dammit, he'd _known_ he wouldn't be a good father and now there was something wrong with his kid because he'd probably done something wrong.

There was a knock at the door, and then Karol poked his head in. "Hey, guys," he said.

"Good afternoon, Karol," Judith said.

"How was your trip, Yuri?" Karol asked, walking in.

"Fine," Yuri said. "No problems."

"George said someone broke their leg."

Yuri shrugged. "She's fine."

"If you say so, Yuri. Anyway, I just got this letter for you. It's from Rita and Estelle."

Yuri reached out and took it from him, and then wasted no time in ripping open the envelope and glancing over it.

_Yuri, Judith, if it's convenient, come to Zaphias. Actually, if inconvenient, come anyways. Estelle says I can't write so bluntly like that, and that I also shouldn't have written what she just _–

Rita's choppy printing ended in a squiggle and a splotch of ink, and then the message continued in Estelle's neat script.

_I'm sorry, I keep telling Rita not to be so rude in letters. I've had to steal the pen from her and lock myself in the study to finish this properly. As Rita said, we'd like for you to please come visit us in Zaphias whenever is convenient for you. Rita has discovered something that might be of interest to you, and it's always nice to see you. Also, I think you might be the only one able to talk some sense into Flynn before he works himself to death. Drop in whenever you have time. We'd love to see you soon!_

_Love Estelle, Rita, and Oliver._

Yuri set the letter down on the table. "They want us to visit them in Zaphias."

"That's odd," Judith said. "We're going to see them in a few months at Ioder's wedding."

Yuri shrugged. "Estelle says Rita discovered something. I don't know what about. Captain Karol, you need us anytime soon or do we have time for a trip to the capital?"

"No, go ahead," Karol said. "I don't have any jobs lined up that I need you guys for."

"Alright," Yuri said. "Judy, want to head out tomorrow?"

"That sounds doable. What do you think, Jo? Want to go on trip?"

She probably didn't, Yuri thought. Luckily she couldn't talk yet so voicing her opinion was difficult. She lay on her back, munching on Ba'ul's tail, and Yuri decided he needed to talk to Estelle about Jo. She was Yuri's expert on babies, after all. Jo seemed perfectly happy, but… he was still worried.

* * *

Jo was getting heavy. Not as heavy as Yuri thought she should be, but still heavy enough that carrying her in a basket was getting tiring after a while. Life would be so much easier if she could walk. He was relieved when they reached Estelle and Rita's place and he was able to set her down on the floor.

"Hello, Yuri!" Estelle said, launching herself at him to hug him as always. "It's so good to see you."

"You too, Estelle," he said, patting her should in a one-armed hug. "So, what's this thing you and Rita wanted to talk to us about?"

Estelle pried herself off of him, and said, "Let me go get you some tea!"

Yuri would have protested that he didn't even like tea, but Estelle had a very firm opinion that when people came to visit, you gave them tea. That was simply how things were done. So he let her go about futzing around the kitchen while Yuri and Judith sat down at the kitchen table, Jo out of her basket and sitting in Yuri's lap.

"Where are Rita and Oliver?" Judith asked.

"Oliver is in his room," Estelle said. "Rita is at work, but your timing is perfect because she should be home for lunch soon."

"Can you tell us what this is all about?" Yuri asked.

"Uh… It has to do with science so I think I should let Rita explain. Yuri, you really need to talk to Flynn," Estelle said, forcing a change in the subject. "He's wearing himself out. Rita and I picked a preschool for Oliver and now Flynn is spending hours doing security and background checks and making sure it's safe, and he's doing this all himself instead of assigning someone else to do it."

"Yeah, that sounds like Flynn," Yuri said. He waged a small war with Jo, as she tried to grab his fingers while Yuri kept slipping out of her tiny fists to free up his hands.

"But he's also going way beyond what he needs to for Ioder's wedding, _and_ he has all his regular duties as commandant. I don't think he's getting much sleep but he won't listen to me when I tell him to relax."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll talk to that idiot." He looked down and said, "Would you stop trying to grab my hand? What are you trying to accomplish?"

"I think she misses Ba'ul," Judith said.

"I thought she didn't like Ba'ul?" Estelle asked.

"I mean her plushie," Judith said. "Her little stuffed Ba'ul. I gave it to her a couple days ago and she hasn't let it go since. We left it on the ship, though."

"Great," Yuri said. He gave in, letting her grasp his fingers in defeat.

The door opened, and Rita entered. "Wow, what a day," she said. "Almost lost my eyebrows, but – oh, hey guys." She kicked off her shoes and tromped over to the kitchen table. "Got my letter, then?"

"It was more Estelle's letter, but yes," Judith said.

"Alright, you're here," Yuri said. "What is this about?"

"Can it wait?" Estelle said as the kettle steamed. "We could have some tea first."

Rita saw Yuri's annoyed look and said, "We don't need tea, Estelle. Yuri and Judith came all this way."

"Oh… ok," Estelle said uncertainly.

Yuri appreciated Rita's sentiment. Exactly what could be so important that they needed to come talk to her in Zaphias had been weighing on his mind. If it was a serious scientific breakthrough, she'd have summoned Karol and Raven, too. Well, she'd have summoned Karol, at least. What could it be that she wanted only Yuri and Judith? Yuri couldn't help but remember that the last time he'd received a cryptic private summons from the two of them, they'd asked him to sleep with Estelle and father Oliver.

"What exactly is this about?" Judith asked.

Rita fiddled her hands, trying to find words. Eventually she said, "Well… you know how you guys told me not to do any tests on Jo?"

Yuri's eyes narrowed. "Rita, what did you do?"

"It was just a few hairs!" Rita said. "It's not a big deal. I asked her if she minded and she didn't seem to care."

"Rita, she can't talk yet," Judith said.

Rita crossed her arms. "What's done is done. I took a few hairs and did some research, alright? Don't you want to know what I found?"

Yuri's attention snapped to her words. He was annoyed with Rita, but it suddenly hit him that what Rita had to say might be the answer to his concerns about Jo. "Is there something wrong with her?"

Estelle came to the table with the tea. Yuri didn't even pay attention as Estelle poured a cup for him. His chest tightened. Almost eighteen months ago, he'd thought a child arriving in his life was the most terrifying thing that could ever happen to him. Now, he realized that it was ten times more terrifying to consider the possibility of losing her.

"I read about every biology book in the library so that I have some basic grounding in the field of biology," Rita explained, "and then I extracted some cells from Jo's hair to look at under a microscope so I could get an idea of her DNA. I've also been crossbreeding two different species of mice to observe the results of hybrid offspring."

"Get to the point," Yuri said.

"Alright, alright. Well, look at her. Doesn't she seem kind of small to you?"

Yuri nodded slowly.

"If my research is correct, I think she's _always_ going to be small. In the mice I observed, a lot of them failed to grow at the proper rate because there was a problem with the growth hormone secreted by the pituitary gland."

"What does that mean?" Yuri asked.

"Uh…" Rita was visibly annoyed at the having to dumb-down her findings. "Ok, there's a chemical in your brain that tells your muscles and bones to grow, right?"

"Is there?" Yuri asked.

"Yes, there is. In the mice, some of the hybrids had a problem where the thing in their brain that makes the chemical wasn't working right. Because of that, the mice didn't grow properly."

Yuri looked down at Jo. He knew it. He'd been worried that she wasn't growing properly and now Rita had confirmed his suspicions.

"Is she ever going to catch up?" Judith asked in concern.

"She's still growing, obviously," Rita said. "She's just growing at a slower rate than normal."

"So, by the time she's grown up, she'll be normal, right?" Yuri asked. "She'll just reach her adult height later than she would normally?"

"Er… not exactly," Rita said. "There are growth plates at the end of your bones when you're a kid, and that's what lets you grow. These growth plates close when you're in your late teens, and that's why you don't get any taller once you're an adult."

Yuri nodded. "So, did yours close when you were fourteen or something?"

Rita glared at him. "Very funny, Yuri. My point is, when the growth plates close isn't affected by the growth hormone. They'll still stop growing when she's around eighteen, even if she hasn't caught up to her peers yet."

"Alright, so… you're saying she's always going to be short, then?" If that was all it was, that was a relief. He'd been so afraid Rita was going to tell him Jo was dying that the news that she was just going to be an eternal shorty was welcomed.

"Pretty much," Rita said. "She's just going to grow up a little bit slower than usual. Just physically, mind you – there's no reason to think her mind will be affected by this. At least, I don't think so. It's hard to gauge the intellectual ability of a mouse, but the ones that survived didn't _seem_ any different."

Judith's frowned deepened. "What do you mean by 'the ones that survived'?"

"Oh, a bunch of the hybrid mice died. Don't worry though, it has nothing to do with the growth hormone… I think. It was the tumors."

A trickle of fear crept back into Yuri's voice as he asked, "What about tumors?"

"Well…" Rita hesitated, clearly not wanting to tell them this part. Estelle gave her a firm look, and Rita forced it out. "A lot of the mice developed tumors. So, I think Jo _might_ have a slightly elevated risk of, uh, malignant tumors." When she saw Yuri and Judith's panicked faces, she quickly said, "But there's no reason to believe she's guaranteed to get one! Most of the mice died early on, and she's already nine months old and totally healthy so I don't think it will be a problem. Just… you know, keep your eyes peeled, just in case."

"Right…" Yuri said. So they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Judith," Rita said, "do you know much about Krityan brain physiology? Because I have a theory that the reason her growth hormone isn't being secreted properly is that when human and Krityan DNA came together, the instructions for creating all the glands in the brain got confused because Krityans have the extra part that allows them to communicate with Entelexeia."

"I don't know much beyond the basics, I'm afraid," Judith said. "I've been thinking that since her antenna are stunted, she might not be able to communicate properly, but she's still too young to properly test if she can hear Ba'ul at all."

"I might be able to tell sooner if you let me try our new x-ray machine on her brain."

"No!" Yuri and Judith said as one.

"I'm just offering," Rita said, crossing her arms.

"We appreciate all your work, Rita," Judith said. "Even if you went behind our backs to do it."

"I got to be honest," Yuri said, "I only understood about half of what you explained." Introductory lessons to biology and human physiology has not been offered at the school of hard knocks, which was Yuri's singular alma mater. "But from what I understand, Jo is most likely going to be perfectly physical healthy other than being a shrimp."

"Probably," Rita said. "Although, there is one other thing."

_Of course there is_, Yuri thought. "What now?"

"I'm pretty sure she's sterile."

"You mean… really clean?" Yuri asked.

Rita rolled her eyes. "No, stupid, 'sterile' as in 'infertile'. Unable to have kids."

"Oh." The idea of Jo having kids of her own had never even occurred to him. He was still getting used to the idea of being a father; being a grandfather hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Most hybrid animals are," Rita said. "I wouldn't worry about it for now. It won't be an issue until she's sexually active."

Yuri paled and squeezed Jo's tiny baby hand a little tighter. Thinking of his little girl as sexually active made his stomach squirm. Eager to change the topic, he said, "So, is that all you wanted to tell us?"

Rita nodded. "I was going to just put it all in the letter, but Estelle insisted you should hear it in person."

"I thought it was a lot to dump on someone in a letter," Estelle said. "And I was afraid you had already noticed things wrong with Jo and needed to hear right away."

"It's alright," Judith said. "We don't mind coming. You're right, Yuri was worrying about Jo just yesterday."

"You can stay to visit as long as you want," Estelle said. "I'm sure Oliver wants to play with you, Yuri."

"What's so great about playing with me?"

"You can throw him in the air," Estelle said. "I'm not quite strong enough for that."

Yuri laughed a bit, although it was pretty forced with the mood he was in now. "Oh, is that all I'm good for?" He scooted back in the chair and stood up. "I'm going to go talk to Flynn. Maybe I can talk some sense into him." He passed Jo to Judith, and then ruffled her hair a bit, saying, "I always knew you were a little freak, kid."

"Oh, Yuri," Estelle said, hurrying up. "If you're going to visit Flynn, would you mind bringing him these cookies?" She grabbed a plate piled with chocolate chip cookies off the counter and handed them to him.

Yuri looked down and pouted. "Why don't I get cookies?"

"I'm sorry!" Estelle said. "I didn't know you were coming today. I'll make cookies for you next time, I promise!"

"Don't worry about it, Estelle," Yuri said. "I'll be back in a bit."

Yuri enjoyed the walk to Flynn's office because it gave him a chance to think. He was glad Jo was alright. Well… not entirely alright, but he knew what was going on and he knew her lack of development hadn't been caused by any negligence on his part. That was a relief. And, being short wasn't that big a deal, was it? She would be fine, even if it meant they'd be carrying her around for a few months longer than normal.

He didn't bother knocking when he reached Flynn's office. There were some perks to being friends with someone for almost twenty-five years, and one of those perks was the right to be an asshole. Flynn didn't complain when he entered, but that was probably because Flynn was asleep. Flynn was passed out on his desk, his cheek resting on a half-complete document with a pen still resting in his slack hand.

Yuri set the plate down with a clatter and then smacked the back of Flynn's head. "Hey! Rise and shine, Commandant."

Flynn groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "What… Yuri?"

"Sleeping on the job, huh? Is there where my tax money goes?"

Flynn sat up and rubbed his eyes. "You don't pay taxes, Yuri," he grumbled. "You revoked your imperial citizenship when you joined a guild." He lowered his arms and sat upright. Yuri was rather amused to see mirror-images of letters printed on the side of his face. "What are you doing here, Yuri?"

"Bringing you cookies," Yuri said, gesturing to the plate as he sat down at the desk across from Flynn. "You're welcome."

Flynn stared at the cookies without comprehension. "You baked me cookies?"

"Estelle did, actually, but if you want to give me the credit, I'll take it."

"Ah, I see. I'll need to thank her. Why are you in Zaphias?"

"Rita asked me to come. She found out something about Jo."

Flynn furrowed his brow and leaned forward. "It's not serious, is it?"

Yuri crossed his arms with a frown, leaning back in the chair and trying to decide how to explain when he didn't fully understand the science himself. "It's not life-threatening… probably." As long as the risk of tumors never surfaced. _That's not going to happen_, he told himself firmly. "Basically, she isn't growing at a normal rate. It's not a serious concern, she's just… little."

Flynn nodded slowly. "I see. Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright. The problem is in Jo, not me, aren't you listening?"

"You know what I mean, Yuri. How are you taking this?"

Yuri shrugged. "Fine, I guess. I had been worried that she wasn't crawling yet, so at least I know what's wrong now."

"But… you're worried now about how this will affect her life?"

Yuri scowled at him. Sometimes Flynn's ability to read him like an open book was annoying. "It's a dangerous world, and it's more dangerous if you're smaller and weaker than most people." There was also the issue of her infertility, but Flynn didn't need to know about that. Yuri wasn't even sure how he felt about it himself.

"Your concern is understandable," Flynn said. "But, I wouldn't worry about it too much, Yuri. With you and Judith as parents, if she doesn't turn out tenacious and tough as nails, I'll be surprised."

Yuri nodded. "That's one way to look at it."

"What time is it anyway?" Flynn asked.

"Uh… a bit after one, I think."

"Crap," Flynn said, standing up quickly. "I'm supposed to meet with the Council 1:30. I'm sorry, Yuri, I need to get moving." He looked down at his desk and frowned. "Damn, I was hoping to finish planning the parade route before I had to leave…"

"Flynn, don't you think you're overdoing it?" Yuri said.

Flynn raised his head a bit. "What do you mean?"

"I think there are a lot of things you're freaking out over that you could delegate to someone else."

"No, I can't," Flynn said, shuffling around with the papers on his desk. "I need to take care of things. Dammit, where is that report…"

"And it's your job to take care of Ioder's wedding, too? And Oliver preschool? And every little detail in the knights?"

"Someone has to do it. I think I left that report in my bedroom. I was working on it before I went to sleep last night. I'll be right back."

Flynn hurried away, leaving Yuri sitting at his desk in bemusement. Flynn hadn't changed a bit. Yuri reached out and grabbed one of the cookies, absently munching on it until Flynn returned.

Flynn returned with a stack of papers in hand. "Alright, I think I have everything. …Yuri, are you eating one of my cookies?"

Yuri swallowed, wiped crumbs from his mouth, and brushed his hands on his knees. "No."

Flynn whacked Yuri's head with his stack of papers. "Get your own cookies. Alright, I have time to make it to the meeting," he said, more to himself than Yuri. "And when I get back I'll work out the route for the procession before the wedding, and then make sure the flowers are sent to the preschool… wait, that's not right."

"Flynn!" Yuri stood up and grabbed Flynn's shoulders. "You need to stop doing everything yourself."

"I'm just doing my job."

"No, you're doing everyone else's jobs. I'm not joking around right now, Flynn – if you keep this up, you're going to burn out." He met Flynn's eyes, trying to convey how serious he was. "I'm actually worrying about you."

Flynn's resolve softened a bit. "Thank you for your concern, Yuri, but really, I'm fine."

"You were napping at your desk when I came in."

"I'm just a little busy right now."

"A little busy?" Yuri rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Flynn, you're killing yourself. If you won't do it for me, will you calm down for Estelle's sake? She's worried about you."

Flynn frowned. "It wasn't my intention to worry anyone. I'll tone it down after the wedding, alright?"

Yuri let out a breath through his teeth. "Fine."

"Now, I'm sorry, but I really need to get going if I'm going to make it to the meeting."

"Right, that's fine. Oh, you might want to wipe your face."

"My face?" Flynn raised his hand and rubbed his cheek. "Is this ok?"

The clear letters were gone, but it had turned into a blurry smudge taking up most of his cheek. Yuri stared at him for a second, and then smiled. "You look fine. Enjoy your meeting."

"Right. Thanks, Yuri." He grabbed some things off his desk and headed for the door, He paused just long enough to look back and say, "I'm sorry I couldn't talk longer about Jo. I'm sure she'll be alright, but let me know if there's anything I can do."

"It's fine. Thanks, Flynn."

Flynn hurried off to his meeting, but Yuri hesitated at his desk. He glanced at the door, then down at the papers on his desk, and then grabbed the map of Zaphias and the papers clipped to it. He took these down the hall until he reached another office.

When he knocked, a female voice said, "Come in."

This office was considerably smaller than Flynn's, but was just as meticulously organized. He walked up to the desk as Sodia looked up, and her smile dropped the instant she saw him.

"Yuri Lowell?" she said in surprise.

"Good to see you haven't forgotten my name yet."

"What do you want?" she snapped.

Yuri dropped the papers on her desk. "Flynn needs someone to plot a parade route for Ioder's wedding, probably based on a balance between the most public route and the most secure route. He asked me to take this to you so you could take care of it, or give it to someone who could."

"Oh… alright," she said.

"That's all I want," he said. "Have a nice day." He started walking away, but paused to add, "Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Flynn is killing himself. Maybe you can do something about getting him to relax."

Sodia frowned "The commandant is very dedicated to his job."

"I just don't want him to burn out. Keep an eye on him, alright?"

She nodded. "I always do."

"Great. See you around."

Sodia didn't say goodbye as Yuri left. From there, he was headed back to Estelle and Rita's place. They didn't have any other plans today, so maybe spending the afternoon hanging out with his friends would get his mind off of worrying about Jo.


	18. Wedding Bells

**Chapter Eighteen: Wedding Bells**

"You look ridiculous, you know that, kid?" Yuri held Jo up at eye level, distastefully eyeing the frilly dress she wore. He was pretty sure there was more poofy dress in his hands than there was baby. "You're an unnatural little freak dressed like a princess."

"Yuri you can't talk to her like that!" Estelle stood on her toes to reach where Yuri held Jo, pulling her hair behind her ears to tie it up in a bow. "She looks adorable, and everybody is dressed like this."

"She's barely over a year old, it shouldn't matter. Looks like she can't even move in this." Not that Jo was a proficient crawler in her pajamas either. She'd started crawling only a couple weeks ago and was still rather slow and clumsy. Yuri was just glad she was finally mobile, because Oliver had been walking by now.

"She doesn't need to move. She's supposed to look cute as you hold her all day." Estelle tightened the large bow and left Jo with a frilly ribbon nearly the size of her head.

Yuri grimaced, forcing a smile over it. "Sure." He didn't plan on keeping it in all day. Ioder's wedding was going to be a long affair, and one that Jo would sit through quietly only with luck. Torturing her with such a ridiculous outfit was only asking for it to be worse.

"It's not that bad, Yuri. She looks just like you." Karol kept a hand clamped over his mouth to hide a grin as Yuri handed her to Judith before Estelle could do any more damage.

"I think she looks fine," Judith said as she took her. "It's just for one day."

"I still don't get the point. She's too young to worry about a proper dress code." He ran his hand through her hair, carefully maneuvering around the bow. Her hair was getting long now, the blue-black strands reaching her chin when they weren't tied up in a bow. "What do you think, Jo? How do you like your dress?"

"Da!" Jo reached up and grabbed at Yuri's hand. Yuri smiled and let her squeeze his palm. Yuri was not a mushy person and if anyone ever accused him of being sweet and cuddly he'd knock their lights out to prove a point, but Jo had recently learned how to say 'Da' whenever she wanted to address him, and it made him smile every time.

"See, she likes," Estelle said.

"No," Yuri said, "she was trying to say 'Dad, please save me from drowning in lace'."

"Don't be silly," Estelle said. "She's saying 'Dad, look how cute I am!'"

Yuri sighed. They were at Estelle's place and were supposed to be down at the ceremony in the large central garden within fifteen minutes. There wasn't any time now to change clothes. Estelle had offered to get a dress for Jo and Yuri hated shopping so he'd agreed, but maybe next time he'd suck it up and find her a nice simple skirt himself if it saved her from looking like a frilly princess.

At least she didn't look nearly as ridiculous as Oliver, who was often paraded around in gaudy outfits. As he was thinking of him, Rita and Oliver emerged form Oliver's bedroom. The pair of them looked just as happy with their clothing as Yuri was.

"Are you ready?" Estelle asked. "Did you have any trouble getting Oliver dressed?"

"No, he's fine," Rita said, as Oliver squirmed and tugged at his silk vest. Rita wore a long yellow dress that reached her ankles, which was more formal than anything that Yuri had ever seen her wear before. She saw him staring and snapped, "And what are you looking at, Yuri?"

He smirked. "Nothing. You look very pretty."

"Shut up, Yuri. Aren't you wearing the exact same suit you wore to the dinner a few months ago, and also to Oliver's first party?"

Yuri looked down at his black suit and tugged at the hated tie. "So? I only own one suit. Why should I get another if this one still fits?"

"This is why I hate men," Rita said. "They can get away with wearing the same outfit to every event, but if I wear the same dress every day suddenly it's a huge problem."

"But Rita," Estelle said, "it's pretty rare that you actually dress up, and whenever you do, you always look so pretty."

Rita pouted and crossed her arms. "I do not, stop saying that."

Judith glanced at the door. "We should probably get going."

"Right," Yuri said. "Let's get this over with."

Ten minutes later, they'd reached the garden. It was no lined with long wooden benches and surrounded with gas lights that would turn on after dark. Flowers and gold trim covered the walls and lined the paths. The setting was almost as extravagantly overdone as the guests' clothing. Yuri wondered exactly where he'd gone wrong in life to keep getting dragged to fancy noble get-togethers. He craned his neck, trying to find Flynn.

"We have a few minutes before we have to sit down," Estelle said.

"Where are we supposed to sit?" Judith asked, looking around.

"Um… probably near the back," Estelle said. She gave them an apologetic look and said, "I'm sorry. Oliver and I need to sit at the front as part of the royal family, and then there are a lot of prominent nobles, and Lady Katarina's family, and then the guild members invited for political reasons."

"We don't mind," Karol said. "As long as you and Rita don't get lonely up front without us!"

Estelle frowned and looked down, and Rita said, "Not me. I'm back here with you guys."

"What?" Karol asked. "Why wouldn't you sit together?"

"Rita and I aren't officially, um, together," Estelle explained. "As far as the castle is concerned she's just a friend, so she can't sit with the royal family."

"Oh…" Karol said.

"Relax," Rita said. "It doesn't really matter where I sit, and staying away from all those pompous nobles sounds like a good time to me."

"Hey, where's Raven?" Karol asked, looking around.

"He said he was going to meet us here," Yuri said. "He's probably off trying to flirt with some poor woman."

"Yuri," Judith said, "can you take her? She keeps trying to pull the trim off my dress."

Yuri laughed a bit as he saw Jo tugging at the collar of Judith's dress. He took her in his arms, saying, "Never thought we'd have to worry about you trying to undress a lady."

Jo seemed unhappy to be parted from the ever-so fun dress, and reached her arms at Judith as whined, "Maaa."

Yuri shifted her weight, carrying her upright against his chest. "One of these days you're going to have to learn how to finish those syllables."

Something tugged at the end of his jacket, and Yuri looked down to see Oliver staring up at him. "Can I hold the baby?" he asked.

Yuri glanced at Estelle, who quickly said, "Maybe that's not a good idea right now, Oliver." She crouched to get down at Oliver's level and said, "You don't want to drop her, do you? You can hold her later when we're sitting down, ok?"

He nodded. "Ok."

"Weird that Flynn still hasn't shown up," Rita said. Her arms were crossed and she leaned against the back of one of the benches as she peered around the crowd. "Figured he'd have gotten here an hour early.

"He's probably trying to finish some last minute duties," Estelle said, standing upright again. She glanced back at Oliver and said, "Oh, Oliver, what are you doing?! Stop that."

Oliver froze with his hands at his neck and looked up at her, pouting. "Don't like the bowtie."

"You can take it off later, but right now you need to look nice."

Oliver let out an unintelligible grumble of displeasure, and then said, "It's too tight."

Yuri smirked. "Looks like he takes after me, after all."

"That's right, Yuri," Rita said. "You're just as petty about neck-wear as a three-year-old. Congratulations."

Before Yuri could reply, the doors to the garden closed and the guests stopped milling around and started heading to their seats. "Oh, it's time for us to go," Estelle said. He took Oliver's hand and said, "We have to go sit down now, ok? Say goodbye to Mom and the others and we'll see them after the ceremony."

Oliver waved goodbye as Estelle dragged him away into the gaudily-dressed crowd. Yuri followed the others to the back row of benches and sat down on the end next to Judy with Jo in his lap. "Flynn still hasn't shown up," he said, scanning the front row for a familiar blond head.

"Maybe he's with Ioder," Judith said.

Just after she said that, Ioder himself entered from a door by the front of the garden. He stood at the front with the judge who would be conducting the ceremony, looking around. He was probably looking for Flynn, too.

The garden was just as noisy as it had been earlier, because even though everyone had sat down, they still kept talking and the buzz of conversation filled the courtyard. Jo squirmed on his lap, her hands going to her head and tugging at the ribbon Estelle had been so proud of.

Yuri gently pulled her hands away. "Put up with it for just a little longer, ok? If I can handle a tie, you can handle a bow."

Jo could not be reasoned with the way Oliver had. When her efforts to dislodge the bow didn't work, she made her displeasure known by whining. Yuri held her sides tightly to keep her from wriggling off his lap as she babbled incoherently. She was so close to crying it was almost scary.

Judy leaned over and stroked her head. "Shhhh. You don't want to make a fuss at Ioder's wedding, do you?"

Evidently she did. Guests sitting in the bench in front of them glanced back disapprovingly as her vocalizations got louder.

"Yuri," Rita said, "go calm her down."

He sighed and stood up. "Alright, stop fussing. I'll be back in a bit." He carried her to one of the side doors, and the usher who stood by it looked at him in surprise.

"You can't leave now," the usher said. "The ceremony will start momentarily."

Yuri glanced back at the front of the garden. "How exactly is it going to start if the best man isn't here yet?"

"Er…" the usher said.

"Besides," Yuri said, "do you really want a screaming baby at your ceremony?"

The usher looked down at Jo, who seemed to be trying to escape Yuri's arms just as aggressively as she wanted to escape the bow. "I suppose not." The usher opened the door for Yuri and said, "Please try to return shortly."

"Trust me, I want to quiet her down quickly just as much as you do." He carried her into the empty corridor, looking around for something her could set her on so he could fiddle with the bow in her hair. The corridors were spotlessly empty, though, so he kept walking.

"Stop being so – ah!" She yanked on his hair, and Yuri hastily tried to readjust her so he could hold her with one arm and pry his hair loose with the other. "Don't take your hair rage out on me! Estelle's the one who insisted on bows." He managed to pull the handful of hair out of her grip as they turned a corner, and he pushed all his hair behind his shoulders. Maybe he _should_ consider a haircut if she was going to make a habit out of this.

He found a door, and entered it to find a small sitting room. Perfect. He sat Jo down on the couch by the window and knelt in front of her. "Alright, you want to get rid of the bow? I don't blame you; it's pretty hideous." He fumbled with the knot, wondering how Estelle had managed to tie it so tight. He had almost successfully loosened it when a flash of movement outside the window caught his eye.

He paused with a frown, and then leaned over the couch with one knee on the cushion and one hand on Jo's shoulder. Beyond the window was a grassy field with the outer wall of the castle beyond it. With his face pressed against the glass, he spotted a person entering the castle through a side door. The person was dressed all in black, and he glanced around the lawn a few times to check if anyone was watching before slipping into the castle. Definitely suspicious.

Yuri glanced back down at Jo. "I think we're going to need to check this out," he said. Every instinct told him to run after the man right now and find him this instant, but he couldn't very well run off and leave Jo all alone in this sitting room. She'd try to crawl off the couch and break her neck. He loosened the rest of her bow and pulled it off, freeing her hair and letting it fall back to frame her face. "Come on, let's get you back to Mom."

"Ma?" Jo said as Yuri picked her up, questioning the familiar word.

"That's right, but there's an 'm' at the end of that word, too." He walked quickly back toward the garden, his mind stuck on the black-clothed figure he'd seen outside. He supposed it was possible it was just a late guest, but he'd looked nervous about being spotted as he entered and Yuri found that highly suspicious.

He reached the entrance to the garden, just in time to see someone else hurriedly entering. "Raven?" he said.

Raven spun around. "Hey, Yuri! What're you up ta?"

"Taking a bow out of Jo's hair. Bit late, aren't you, Old Man?"

Raven shrugged. "I got held up. Ya comin'?"

"I've got something I want to check out. Can you take Jo back to Judy for me?"

"Sure! Ya know I'm always happy ta help with the little darlin'."

Yuri frowned as he handed her over. "Raven, do me a favour and… don't call her that. It sounds creepy coming from you."

"I'm hurt! Ya know ol' Raven would never hurt a fly, let alone your darlin' girl."

"Yeah, whatever. Just give her back to Judy and let them know I'll be there in a couple minutes."

"Whatever ya say."

Yuri patted Jo on the head, said, "See you in a bit, kid," and then headed further down the hall to investigate the mysterious person. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do if he found the person and they were dangerous, because for some reason Estelle insisted that it was improper to bring a sword to a wedding, but he'd work that out if the time came.

He was about to turn around another corner, and heard running footsteps. He braced himself, ready to tackle the person if they turned out to be the mysterious man in black. When the person came around the corner, they crashed right into Yuri and both of them toppled to the floor with a shout.

Yuri struggled to jump up first, but as soon as he got to his feet, he recognized who it was he'd crashed into. "Flynn?"

"What the hell, Yuri?!" Flynn got up as well, brushing off his ridiculous dress uniform. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you. Shouldn't you be at the wedding?"

"Yes! That's why I was running! Why aren't you there?"

"I saw something," Yuri said. "I slipped out to deal with Jo and noticed a suspicious person slipping into the castle."

Flynn's annoyed expression immediately turned serious. "When? Where?"

"About ten minutes ago, into the door on the east wall."

Flynn frowned. He glanced down the hall toward the wedding he was supposed to be at, and then back at Yuri. "We should investigate," he said.

"That's what I'm doing. I can take care of this; you should get to the wedding."

Flynn shook his head. "It can wait a few minutes. I won't be able to relax until I see this taken care of."

They started walking at a brisk pace back the way Flynn had come, heading toward the east entrance. As they walked, Yuri said, "So why were you late? That's not like you."

Flynn frowned and didn't answer right away. "I got… uh… caught up with stuff in my office."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Important stuff. I was working at my desk and s-s-suddenly…" he broke off and covered his mouth as a yawn overtook him. He blinked quickly and shook his head. "Suddenly it was sunset and I was late."

Yuri raised his eyebrows as he looked at Flynn with a slight smile. "I don't believe it. You were sleeping, weren't you?"

"I was not!" Flynn protested, but Yuri saw right through him.

"Fell asleep at your desk again, huh?"

"No."

"What did I tell you about burning out?"

"I did not burn out because I was not sleeping."

"That's not very professional," Yuri said.

"Drop it, Yuri."

"Maybe you should stop working yourself to death."

"I said drop it."

"What if you had slept right through the wedding? Can the wedding even happen without the best man? What time did you go to bed last night? _Did_ you go to bed last night?"

"This isn't any concern of yours, Yuri." In an effort to change the subject, he asked, "How's Jo?"

"She's fine," Yuri said.

"Walking yet?"

He shrugged. "Crawling. It's kind of weird. She's talking and reaching for things just like Oliver did when he was her age, but she still looks like she's only eight or nine months old. At least she isn't heavy."

"As long as she's happy and healthy, that's all that matters."

"Well she's not happy today. She doesn't like the dress Estelle put her in."

They turned around the final corner, and froze when they saw a pair of guards lying in a heap by the door. Flynn immediately ran to them and crouched by their bodies with a tense expression.

A few seconds later, he looked up and said, "They're dead."

"Dammit," Yuri said. "I knew that man was up to no good."

"Likely an assassin," Flynn said. "If Lady Katarina were to be killed, the political upheaval would be astounding."

"Where do you think he went now?"

Flynn hesitated, his face deep in through. "We should go to the rooms around the end of the garden where the altar was set up. The assassin may be hiding in wait, planning to leap out when Lady Katarina reaches the end of the aisle"

"Better hurry, then."

They ran down the hall, footsteps echoing in the empty corridors. Everyone in the castle was either at the wedding or busy working behind the scenes to carry it off, leaving the main corridors quiet and deserted. Yuri let Flynn lead the way, since he still knew the castle better than Yuri did. As they ran, Flynn panted, "Maybe… if we're lucky… the ceremony won't start… 'til I get there."

"Oh, are you… so… important?" Yuri asked, nearly smashing into a wall as he attempted to run around a corner without slowing down.

Flynn patted his pocket and said, "I have… the rings."

Five minutes later, they had reached the corridor outside the garden, panting and out of breath. "Split up and search all the rooms," Flynn said.

Yuri nodded and ran to the nearest room. As he went, he took a moment to lament the fact that neither he nor Flynn had been thinking straight enough to grab the murdered guards' swords. The room he entered was empty. He quickly went through it, opening cupboards and searching under couches, but there was no one here. Through the curtains, he saw Ioder standing awkwardly at the altar as everyone waited for Flynn to arrive. The ceremony should have started by now, and no one was really sure what to do with the best man missing.

After another five minutes, Yuri and Flynn met up in the last room that had any access to the front of the garden. Flynn shook his head. "There's no one here."

"He's got to be somewhere," Yuri said. "You saw those guards, Flynn. Someone is here and they mean business."

"I know, Yuri," Flynn said with agitation. "But where is-"

"Wait." Yuri walked to the window. He'd caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye and carefully peered through the drapes. He scanned the far wall, and there, on the third floor balcony, he saw a topiary rustle and a human-sized figure dart into the shadows. "On the balcony," he said.

Flynn followed Yuri's gaze. "Dammit. He must have a ranged weapon of some kind."

"We'd better hurry," Yuri said, glancing to Ioder talking to the judge. "Looks like they're about to start without you."

Flynn nodded once, and then they took off running again.

* * *

Judith sat on the bench, wondering how much longer Yuri was going to be. She hoped Jo wasn't causing too much trouble.

"I can't believe Flynn is late," Rita said, leaning back and stretching out her legs. "He's drawing this darn thing out."

"I'm sure he has his reason," Karol said.

They'd been sitting here for almost ten minutes and the ceremony still hadn't started. At least it gave Yuri more time to get back.

"I just hope Oliver doesn't get fidgety," Rita said. "He hates sitting still."

"Weren't you going to send him to preschool, soon?" Judith asked.

Rita nodded. "The new term starts next month, so we're sending him then. We've already told him and he seems excited about it so far, but we'll see once he actually gets there."

"I think it will be good for him," Judith said. "Getting out of the castle and meeting kids his age is sure to be a good experience."

"That's what I think," Rita said. "Who knows how Estelle will handle it. She's acting like he's already moving out or something."

Karol laughed. "That's Estelle for you."

"Hey there!"

Judith looked up just in time for Raven to plop down in Yuri's vacated seat, Jo in his lap. "Hello, Raven. Where's Yuri?"

Raven shrugged. "He said he had something to take care of. So what's the hold up?"

"Flynn's missing," Karol said, leaning around Judith to get a better look at Raven.

"That's alright," Raven said. He held Jo up, balancing her legs on his lap. "That gives Uncle Raven more time to play with this cutie."

"I see Yuri got rid of the bow," Judith said. Jo certainly seemed happier now that her hair wasn't tied up.

"Just as well," Rita said. "It looked dumb, and – Raven, what are you doing?"

Judith looked away from Rita and back to Raven, just in time to see Raven with his face against Jo's head, breathing deeply. He looked up at them with a smile. "Don't ya know babies are the fountain o' youth? This old man needs all the youth he can get!"

Judith frowned. "Raven, stop sniffing my daughter."

"Wow," Karol said. "That is one sentence I never thought I'd hear you say."

"Ah, relax, it's not hurtin' her." He took another deep whiff of her head, and Jo gave him a look that would probably be translated as 'what the heck are you doing to me?'

"I think she's had enough of Uncle Raven," Judith said, leaning over and taking Jo back into her arms. "You're going to have to move once Yuri gets back."

"Wonder where he went," Rita said.

Karol shrugged. "Maybe he he's with Flynn."

"That's not good," Judith said, absently bouncing her knee with Jo on her lap. "Those two always manage to get into trouble together."

They sat for a few more minutes, gradually growing impatient. Judith could see Estelle's head at the front of the audience bent over, no doubt trying to pacify a restless Oliver.

"I bet this is Yuri's fault," Rita said.

"Why do you say that?" Judith asked.

"Because when things go wrong, Yuri is _always_ in the middle of it."

"Look, they're starting!" Karol said.

Ioder stood at the altar with the judge, various well-dressed attendants behind him. There was a conspicuous empty spot where Flynn was supposed to stand.

"Seems like they decided ta start without Flynn," Raven said.

Judith glanced at the door Yuri had left through with a frown, and then down at Jo. "Where in the world did your dad run off to now?"

* * *

"We're almost there," Flynn said.

"Which door is it?" They were on the third floor now, but Yuri had no idea which door led to the balcony.

Flynn paused and looked down the hallway, lined with doors. "I think it's that one," he said, pointing. He wasn't entirely sure which door led to the balcony, either, but his guess was better than Yuri's.

"I haven't heard any screams yet, so I don't think we're too late yet." Yuri took off running again, with Flynn close behind him.

They were both getting tired, and Flynn grumpily thought that ten years ago running around like this would have been nothing. It didn't help that he was wearing his dress uniform, which was stiff and uncomfortable and not meant for physical exertion. Yuri was about to slam the door open, but Flynn grabbed his arm just in time. "Sh! If we can take him by surprise our job will be easier."

"If you insist."

"Considering neither of us has a weapon, we need all the help we can get." He carefully opened the door as quietly as he could. Through the door was another sitting room, with wide windows and a glass door that hung open, leading out to the stone balcony overlooking the garden. Lurking on the balcony, hidden in the shadows of a trimmed bush, was a man in black. He had a crossbow propped on the stone railing, his eyes glued to the aisle down below.

This was going to need to take care. So far he hadn't noticed Yuri and Flynn's arrival, but that wouldn't last much longer. He had a crossbow and a knife hung from his waist, while the closest thing Flynn had to a weapon was one of the medals that hung on his chest that had slightly pointy edges. If they attacked, he could easily fire at them before they got closer, or worse, fire into the crowd down below.

Organ music drifted up from the garden and the murmur of the guests ceased. Lady Katarina must be entering. The ceremony was starting. They were running out of time.

Yuri apparently decided that care and precision were simply things that happened to other people. Before Flynn could stop him, he charged forward. The assassin was aiming his bow, ready to shoot the moment Katarina appeared beneath the balcony, and then with a cry of rage Yuri leapt at him.

"Yuri!" Flynn shouted. There was a shout, a _whoosh_, a thud, and then another shout. For a few agonizing seconds, the only thought that registered in Flynn's mind was that Yuri had successfully stopped the assassin from firing at Lady Katarina by throwing himself at the assassin and getting in the way of the bolt. Flynn had practically felt the jolt of the bolt sinking into Yuri himself, and fear ran through him as he heard Yuri let out a loud grunt of pain. It had all happened so fast, and suddenly his best friend was lying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of him, and in the low light Flynn couldn't tell exactly where he'd been hit.

What he did know was that people down below were screaming, having apparently heard the scuffle and noticed the mysterious man lurking on the balcony. The assassin's chances of hitting Katarina had been dashed, but Yuri was still on the ground, starting to get up. The assassin went for the knife at his belt and Flynn charged. Yuri was still alive, and he was damn well not going to let this assassin change that.

He grabbed the assassin's wrist just as he went for Yuri, and spun him around, slamming his back against the banister. He aimed a solid punch at his throat, but the assassin threw up his other arm to block. He managed to yank his right hand out of Flynn's grip and slashed his knife at him. Flynn jumped back, feeling the knife graze across his cheek but thankfully miss his throat.

The assassin's foot landed solidly in Flynn's gut, throwing him back onto the floor. Flynn grunted and started to get up, but the assassin had grabbed his crossbow and was halfway through reloading a second bolt. Flynn quickly did the calculations and realized he probably couldn't get to his feet and get the crossbow out of his hands before he had time to fire it again.

Yuri had pulled himself up, though, and punched the crossbow right out of his hands. It was probably weaker than his usual punch, Flynn noted, since he was using his right hand. His left arm hung slack at his side, the crossbow bolt embedded in his shoulder, poking out through the other side.

The assassin turned on him, knife in hand as his crossbow had flown away to the other side of the balcony. Flynn was on his feet and made a run for the crossbow, while the assassin pinned Yuri against the railing. Yuri's right arm shook with exertion as he held the knife inches away from his throat. He couldn't keep this up for much longer, and Yuri knew it. He glanced at Flynn and caught his eyes for a second, and in a moment Flynn realized what he planned to do.

The crossbow forgotten, Flynn dashed back across the balcony, just as Yuri grabbed the assassin's collar with his injured arm, kicked off the ground, and flipped both of them over the railing. The assassin screamed as he was flung overboard, and Flynn's heart skipped a beat as he saw his best friend slip over the side as well. It was a three story drop and there was nothing but pavement down below. He heard a loud smack and a few people scream.

He reached the side in seconds, more relieved than he could say to see Yuri clinging to the stone railing with one white-knuckled hand. He dangled over the drop, but even know his fingers were slipping. Flynn grabbed his wrist with both hands just as his fingers gave out, and the railing dug into Flynn's stomach as Yuri's weight nearly dragged him over the side as well. Down below, he saw a crowd gathering around the assassin's body, lying motionlessly on the ground as blood pooled around his cracked skull. He was _not_ going to let that happen to Yuri.

He grunted with the effort of trying to pull Yuri back up. "Give me your other hand."

Yuri took a deep, rattling breath, squeezed his eyes tight, and swung his arm upward with a grimace of pain. The lapel of his black jacket pulled aside slightly, letting Flynn see the large red stain surrounding the bolt still stuck in his shoulder.

Flynn heaved as hard as he could, and with great effort managed to drag Yuri back up over the edge of the balcony. He heard applause as Yuri's weight fell on him and they both toppled over to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Flynn asked.

"Been better." Yuri reached for the bolt, but Flynn caught his wrist.

"Wait. If you take that out now you'll start bleeding to death. Let's get you to Lady Estellise."

"It's not that big a deal."

Flynn glared at him. "Yuri, you could have been killed. You're lucky he didn't hit your heart!"

"And you're lucky he didn't slash your throat. Looks like we both got lucky."

Flynn sighed through his teeth. He didn't have time to deal with Yuri's stubbornness right now. "Just don't touch that bolt." He stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony, looking down at a shocked and frightened crowd down below.

"Everybody remain calm," he said in a loud and clear voice. "We've got everything under control. Lieutenant Harrison, organize a search of the entire castle. I want the entire premises searched just in case this man had an accomplice."

A soldier down below saluted and shouted, "Yes, sir!"

"Captain Peters, please keep people away from the body until I have a chance to search him. Your Majesty, I apologize for the delay and interruption. I have the rings and I will be down shortly to resume the ceremony."

Ioder looked almost amused at the fact that Flynn was apologizing. "Please, Flynn, take your time," he said.

"Lady Estellise," Estelle stood on the far side near Ioder, holding Oliver's hand, "Yuri has been injured, can you please heal him? We will be down shortly." She nodded quickly with a worried look, and Flynn turned back to Yuri, who had propped himself up and held his right hand pressed against his shoulder.

"Always got things under control, huh?"

"Come on, we need to get you to Estellise." He helped Yuri to his feet and guided his friend across the room and back to the hall.

As they walked down the stars, Yuri asked, "Your face ok?"

Flynn wiped the back of his hand across his cheek, and it came away smeared in blood. "It's fine, just a superficial cut."

"You're going to get blood on your pretty uniform."

"Still in better shape than yours."

Yuri looked down at his shirt and frowned. "Dammit, I'm going to have to buy a new suit now."

When they reached the garden again, Flynn has to practically push people out of his way.

"What's going?" someone asked.

"Who was that man?"

"Are we in danger?"

The crowd of frightened guests pressed in all around them, so Flynn raised his voice and said firmly, "Please, everybody return to your seats."

The crowd parted, allowing Ioder to hurry through. "Flynn," he said, "what is the situation?"

"There was an assassin," Flynn said. "I believe he was aiming for Lady Katarina. I don't know yet who he was working for. I don't believe there is any more danger, but I have my knights scouring the castle just in case."

"Alright," Ioder said. "You should take Yuri inside and get his wound taken care of. Have the assassin's body cleared out. The job of identifying him and his motives can wait until tomorrow. When you and Yuri are taken care of, we can resume the wedding."

"You don't need to wait for Yuri, sir," Flynn said. "I have the rings and this cut on my face isn't a big deal."

Ioder smiled. "I don't mind waiting. I know you're worried about your friend and I don't want you to be worrying throughout the ceremony."

Flynn bowed. "Thank you, sir."

"Sir!" Flynn looked over and saw Sodia hurrying toward him. "Are you alright sir?"

"I'm fine, Sodia. Can you arrange for the assassin's body to be taken care of?"

"Of course, sir." She held out a small hand towel she had carried over. "Here, sir. For your face."

"Thank you," he said, gratefully pressing it against his cheek. The cut was more annoying than painful. The stinging hurt, but the blood constantly dripping down his face and tickling his cheek was worse.

Another group of people pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Flynn was about to tell them to get out of their way, but then realized it was Yuri's friends.

"Yuri!" Karol said, running forward. "Are you alright?!"

Yuri nodded. "I'm f-fine." He looked slightly irritated at the way his voice shook.

"Follow me," Flynn said. "We're going inside."

The whole group followed him out of the garden and into one of the empty sitting rooms across the hall. Raven grabbed a chair from a desk and held it out for Yuri, who gratefully sat down.

"What happened?" Judith aside, lines of worry creasing her face.

Flynn explained as quickly as he could, just as Estelle came running in with Oliver in tow. She'd had to struggle through the crowds to reach them, but now that she had made it she wasted no time in running to Yuri's side.

"An assassin, huh?" Raven said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Shoulda guessed somethin' like this would happen."

"Does anyone have a knife or scissors or something like that?" Estelle asked, looking up from her knees. "I need to cut Yuri's shirt away from the wound."

"There's scissors on this desk," Raven said, grabbing the pair and holding them out.

Rita grabbed them and handed them the rest of the way to Estelle.

"Aw, do you really have to cut it?" Yuri said, forcing a grin. "This is my only suit."

Estelle gave him a determined expression. "I need to get the wound clear, Yuri. I can't heal you until I get this arrow out of your shoulder."

"This is becoming a pattern for your, Yuri," Judith said, still hugging Jo to her chest. "Are we going to have to start keeping you away from the edges of building before you make a habit of falling off of things?"

"Heh," Yuri said through gritted teeth as Estelle cut around the bolt and then slide his jacked and shirt away from his shoulder. "Sorry, I'll try to be more careful."

Something tugged at Flynn's jacket, and he looked down to see Oliver looking up at him with scared eyes. "Is Uncle Yuri going to be ok?"

Flynn crouched down to be at his level. "Uncle Yuri is going to be just fine," he said, putting one arm around Oliver's shoulders while he held the towel against his face with the other. "Your mom is the best healer in the world and she'll fix him up just fine." He glanced over at Estelle, he was now gripping the bolt and preparing to yank it out. He frowned, and shifted his position, pulling Oliver around so he couldn't see Yuri anymore.

"Are you ok, too, Uncle Flynn?" His eyes went worriedly to the bloodstained towel. "Th-that's a lot of blood…"

Flynn nodded. He patted his cheek and wiped away as much blood as he could and then lowered the towel to show Oliver. "It's just a scratch, see? But you have a lot of blood in your face so even little scratches bleed a lot. It's nothing to worry about, ok?"

"But you're bleeding," Oliver said in a scared voice. He reached up to Flynn face, his eyes tearing up. "Make it stop." His hand touched Flynn's cheek, and there was a small flash of light. Flynn stared at him in shock as a warm fuzzy feeling raced across the cut, and seconds later the stinging pain went away. Oliver pulled his hand away and took a step back, clearly frightened.

"What was that?" Rita asked, turned away from Yuri to look at Flynn and Oliver in surprise.

Flynn held his hand up to his new blemish-free cheek. "I – I think Oliver just healed me."

Karol whipped his head around. "Seriously?"

Yuri punctuated the moment with a loud shout as Estelle yanked the bolt out in one swift movement. She held her hands over his shoulder and said, "First Aid!"

Yuri's breathing calmed down as the wound closed. Estelle turned her attention to Flynn and Oliver. "What did you say? Oliver healed you?"

Oliver looked around at the adults in confusion, and then ran to Rita and buried his face in her thighs. "Moooooom!"

"Hey, Oliver can heal?" Yuri asked, looking over with a smile. "Looks like that Child of the Full Moon thing worked out."

"It's nothing to be afraid of," Rita said, kneeling down so Oliver wasn't stuck to her legs. "Mom and I have magic too. You just made Flynn feel better, and that's good."

Oliver raised his head. "It's ok?"

Estelle hurried over and wrapped her arms around both Rita and Oliver. "It's very ok, Oliver. We're really proud of you. You can use your magic to help others. Isn't that good?"

"O-ok," Oliver said.

"Yuri, are you alright now?" Flynn asked, crossing the room to stand next to him.

"I'm fine," he said. He rotated his shoulder and added, "A bit stiff, but nothing serious." Then he frowned and said, "Although, this was my only suit and now I'm not sure what to wear to the rest of the wedding."

"I'll take you back to my place and you can get cleaned up and borrow some of my clothes."

"I don't' want to wear your clothes if they look anything like what you're wearing. Did you get covered in glue and walk through a gold trim factory or something."

"Ha-ha. I do have some normal dress clothes, and you can't walk around with a ripped and bloodied shirt, so you don't have much other choice."

"Fine." Flynn gave him his hand and he got to his feet. "Thanks, Flynn."

"I should be thanking you. If you hadn't noticed him sneaking in, he probably would have gotten away with it. Additionally, you saved my life up there."

"Only after you saved mine. Let's call it even."

"We're going to go back to the garden," Estelle said, standing upright. "I'll let Ioder know you're coming, Flynn."

"Thank you, Lady Estellise." Out in the hallway, they parted ways. Flynn led Yuri back to his home, the events of the last half hour racing through his head. He felt slightly embarrassed that he'd let an assassin slip into the castle on his watch, and he couldn't thank Yuri enough for being observant. Mostly, he was still recovering from that horribly dread that had sunk into his chest in the moments after Yuri had been shot and Flynn couldn't tell if it had been lethal or not.

"What are you smiling about?" Yuri asked when he looked over and saw Flynn watching him with a content smile.

Flynn shrugged. "Nothing." His best friend was still alive, and that was reason enough to smile.

* * *

The actual ceremony had ended almost an hour ago, but nobody had shown any signs of leaving. They had all moved out of the garden and into one of the huge ball rooms for the reception, which turned out to be just as exciting as every other dumb noble party Yuri had been dragged to. Watching two people he barely knew get married was boring enough, and Yuri wished the excitement of hunting down the assassin would come back. Having a crossbow bolt embedded in his shoulder sounded more enjoyable than hearing one more minute of the woman who felt the need to brag about how great her two-year-old was.

"Of course, we left her at home, with her nanny," she explained. "We knew bringing such a young child to this sort of event would be inappropriate."

"How nice." Jo sat quietly on Yuri's lap and tugged on his hair and tie, keeping herself occupied. She hadn't made a single fuss since he took the bow out of her hair, so he was forced to assume that the child the woman had left at home was simply much worse behaved than his own daughter.

"You said the child was fourteen months?" The noble woman – Yuri hadn't bothered to pick up her name – took a sudden interest in Jo again.

"Something like that." As hard as he tried to sound bored and ready to leave, she was enthusiastic and continued.

"I just wanted to be sure. She is rather small, after all. You're carrying her around, but _my _daughter was much larger and walking by nine months." She gave Jo a pitying glance. "I assume it's her impure blood. I've never seen a Krityan child before, are they all this tiny?"

"Wouldn't know." His voice was stiff and strained. If the woman realized how close she was to getting punched in the face, she didn't show any signs of fear.

"I suppose it could also be her upbringing in the Lower Quarter. My daughter was just born into a better family – it's all luck. We're hard workers and didn't just give up like everybody down there did."

That was it. Estelle and Flynn might get mad at him for leaving so abruptly, but they'd be even more mad if he punched her in the face, which would surely happen if he stuck around her any longer. Insulting himself, his daughter, and his home all in one go was just asking for retribution. He stood up and kicked his chair back under the table, arm crossing over Jo to clutch his previously-wounded shoulder. With an overly exaggerated expression of pain, he said, "Oh, ow, my shoulder hurts! Such terrible agony. I need to find Estelle to get it healed again." He walked away, ignoring her comment about Lower Quarter etiquette.

It didn't take him long to lose himself in the crowd to get away from her, a little proud that he kept his promise to Flynn that he wouldn't start any fights. He paused to look down at Jo. Maybe she was small, but she seemed to be smiling every time he looked at her and Estelle said that other than the obvious growth issue, she was developing right on track. As far as Yuri was concerned, there was nothing wrong with her and he would fight anyone who said otherwise.

He pushed onward to find a better conversation partner, and found one quickly, head sticking up high above almost everybody else. "Come on, get a drink with me." He grabbed Flynn by the forearm and dragged him away from the young woman flirting with him.

"Wha- ah! Hey!" Flynn nodded apologetically at her and followed Yuri. "Yuri what's wrong?"

"I'm bored, you can flirt with your admirers later."

Flynn did a double-take. "F-flirt? You misunderstand. I was just being polite!"

Yuri snorted. "As observant as always, I see. How are you ever going to get a girl if you don't even realize when they're hitting on you? Anyway, there's a bar in here, right? I'll get her over to Judy and let's kill some time." He wasn't willing to drink anywhere near Jo anymore.

"I saw Judith at a table with Miss Mordio and Lady Estellise over there." Flynn pointed towards the back of the room. "The bar is over there as well, but they're all higher-quality wines and cocktails."

"Good enough." He would've killed again for a beer – perhaps starting with that noble woman he'd been talking to earlier – but he wasn't looking to get drunk tonight, only to make the time go a little faster.

"Wait, I'm not sure this is a good idea. It's supposed to be a wedding, Yuri."

"You shouldn't be telling me that, Mr. Hero. Everyone is talking about how noble Commandant Flynn single-handedly thwarted an assassination attempt, saving Lady Katarina's life and even rescuing the poor commoner who got thrown off the balcony."

Flynn frowned. "Yuri, you know that isn't true. If it hadn't been for you-"

Yuri waved his hand to brush aside Flynn's recognition. "Details. Come on, celebrate a little." He held Jo up to his face and raised his voice to a higher pitch. "Celebrate, Uncle Flynn."

"You're embarrassing yourself. Let's go find Judith and she can keep you busy." Flynn brushed Jo's cheek with his thumb softly, but leaned away from her. Jo looked at him curiously, not sure why her dad was holding her up like this.

"It'll be good for you to loosen up." He pulled Jo back to lean her against his chest. "Chill out and just take a break for once. Hey, maybe for a real good time, you can try going to sleep in your bed instead of at your desk for once!"

Flynn ignored his comment and changed the subject. "I found them, sit down." Flynn veered to the side and pulled up a chair next to Estelle.

"Oh, Flynn!" Estelle turned to the side suddenly as she heard his chair scrape against the ground. "I didn't see you coming."

Yuri put Jo on Judith's lap. "Take her for a minute."

"What's going on?" Judith held onto her, but looked at Yuri skeptically.

"Flynn and I are going to go be irresponsible."

"I'm not a part of it, Yuri." Flynn glared, crossing his arms. "I have to set an example for the other knights on guard. As commandant I'm here as a guest, but it doesn't mean I can only relax and shirk my responsibilities."

"That's exactly what it means. You're off duty; take some time for yourself. I'll bet you haven't had a drink in months." Yuri took a seat, knowing it would take long enough to convince Flynn that sitting would be more comfortable.

"That's none of your business. My job requires constant attention, and I can't just go to the bar with the others every night."

"So I'm right then," Yuri grinned.

"I never said that. By the way, about your suit." Flynn stuttered over his words, set on being a responsible example all night. He took a handful of gald out of his pocket and set it on the table in front of Yuri. "Here's the money for another one."

"It's fine, I'll pick one up myself when we get back to Dahngrest." Yuri slid the coins back.

"No, I mean it. You have more expenses than I do."

"And I make enough to take care of those and get another suit."

"My job pays a lot more than yours, Yuri. Just take it."

"I'm fine without your charity." Yuri raised his voice, frustrated with Flynn insisting that he couldn't buy some clothes without help.

"It's not charity, I just want to get you a suit!" Flynn shouted, matching Yuri's tone.

Estelle cut into the conversation, doing her best to dissipate the argument. "Yuri, Flynn, don't fight, everybody is looking."

Yuri looked up and noticed the disapproving stares coming from everyone around him. He didn't care what they thought about him, but Flynn turned his head down and apologized to Estelle. Something about how embarrassing it was for a man of his stature to act so inappropriately.

"How's she doing?" Yuri turned to Judith and grabbed Jo's hand while Flynn ignored him.

"She's probably going to get hungry soon." Jo looked up at him and giggled, clasping her tiny fingers around one of his.

"You're gonna ruin our night, kid. We'll have to leave early to take care of you because you can't do anything." Yuri didn't say so, but it was really convenient that she could get him out of something like this.

"I could easily take her outside and take care of it."

"No she'll want to go to bed before this is over," Yuri insisted. "And I don't think they'll want you pulling your dress down here."

"It can't be helped given how young she is."

"Sure it can. We should take her home as soon as she wants to go."

"And wouldn't it be rude to leave early?" She raised an eyebrow.

"It'd be more rude to keep a crying baby around." It didn't look like Judith disagreed with him, but her patience went much further than his. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and looked over to see Flynn standing up. "Where are you headed?"

"I asked Flynn to dance." Estelle answered for him, hanging onto his arm.

"Isn't that dangerous?" It wasn't long ago that Judith posed as Flynn's girlfriend to avoid this exact situation.

"Lady Estellise is part of the royal family, it's only tradition." Flynn didn't sound convinced either.

Yuri snorted. "Well, have fun with that." It was ridiculous, Flynn dancing with a princess just because he was expected to. Yuri didn't even know how to dance, and there was Flynn being graceful and proper.

"What about us, Yuri? Don't you want to dance?" Judith asked him.

"I can barely walk in these dress pants, maybe some other time when I know how." He'd known her long enough to be mostly sure that she wasn't serious.

"You aren't any fun," she pouted.

Oliver interrupted, whining loudly and pulling himself up onto Rita's lap. "Quiet down, there's other people around." She picked him up to balance him on her knee.

"Where's Mom go?" He looked between her and Yuri for an answer.

"She's dancing with Flynn."

"Dancing?"

Rita turned him to face them and pointed in their direction. "Like that. They're dancing."

"Can I dance?" Oliver squirmed and tried to wiggle himself down onto the floor.

"You can't dance alone," Yuri told him, leaning over the table so he would see him. "Boys have to dance with girls."

"Oh." He watched Flynn and Estelle carefully, occasionally glancing around at other dancers. After a moment he turned around and took Rita's hand in the same manner he'd seen. "Mom, dance with me."

Rita covered her face with her free hand, but Yuri caught a grin before she could hide it. Oliver crawled down and pulled on her until she pulled herself up. "Alright, I'll teach you how."

"You could ask Rita for dance lessons," Judith suggested when she left.

"I'd rather not." He watched Rita stoop over to hold Oliver's tiny hands and direct his clumsy steps. "I'm going to get a drink actually, you want anything?"

Judith shook her head. "You have fun on your own."

"I'll be right back then." He stood up and went to the small bar along the side of a wall. Rather than the familiar kegs of beer behind the counter, he saw countless glass bottles and various mixing equipment.

"What can I get you?" The bartender put down the glass he was cleaning and grabbed a corkscrew.

"You got any beer?" The bartender wrinkled his nose and gave an exaggerated offended glare. "It was worth a try."

"Will that be all?" He seemed eager to get rid of him.

"What do you have that's strong?"

"Well, there's an aged-"

"Actually I don't care, just get me four glasses of that." Wine hardly did anything for him, but Flynn didn't have the time to build up a tolerance. If he wasn't going to have fun himself, he'd convince Flynn to be entertaining.

The bartender glared at him, but poured four glasses of red wine from a dark green bottle. He continued with his disapproving stare as Yuri took three of them in the crook of his arm to carry back, glass clinking together as he crammed them up against each other.

"Celebrating something?" Judith asked when he returned.

"Nope, but Flynn will be." He had switched partners at some point while Yuri was gone, dancing instead with a younger redhead. Estelle wasn't in sight.

"I have to take her out to feed her." She held up Jo. "Don't get too lonely while I'm out."

"I'll be fine." It was almost immediately that he realized he was, in fact, very lonely while he was surrounded by nobles making small talk. He was alone at a table meant for at least six people, and he had nowhere to go other than a strong desire to leave.

The wine sat on the table, untouched, and he gave it an experimental sip. It took a lot of self-control to not spit it back out into the glass. This stuff was awful, and he hoped Flynn didn't share his reaction or he'd have gotten these drinks for nothing. They were free and he supposed he shouldn't worry about it, but he still bothered to get up and bring them to the table. If he drank at least one, maybe he'd be too buzzed to tell it tasted like fruit found in a dumpster.

Flynn returned to the table when the song ended, thankfully shortly after. "What's all this?" He gestured to the glasses as he took his seat.

Yuri passed him one. "Drink up, Commandant."

He held his hand up to reject it. "Oh, no, I told you – I don't have the time for this tonight."

"Come on, celebrate. You're the best man at a wedding, you saved the emperor and your best friend in one go, and everybody else is drinking. You earned it more than them."

"You're the one who hurt yourself guarding Master Ioder. I don't deserve nearly as much credit as you."

"I'll have a drink at the inn when I go home tonight if it's that big a deal. You can even buy my drinks." Yuri grinned.

"If you're okay with that then you should at least let me pay for a new suit."

"Nah, beer's more important." He pushed the glass back across the table. "Just one and I'll leave you alone."

Flynn sighed and gave in. "Just one."


	19. Flynn's Adventures with Alcohol

**Chapter Nineteen: Flynn's Adventures with Alcohol**

It hadn't been that long ago that Flynn had agreed to take a drink. He remembered being mad that Yuri announced to the crowd that he was celebrating with a few drinks, and suddenly everybody brought them to the table. Yuri was a pretty heavy drinker; there were at least eight empty glasses on the table in front of him in the 20 minutes that they started.

But he wasn't mad anymore. It was just a joke, a really funny joke. He was always pulling funny things like this. Yuri was just friendly and funny and helping him celebrate like a good friend.

"You alright?" Yuri looked over at him as he started giggling.

"You're such a great friend Yuri. You're a great guy." Flynn toppled onto Yuri's lap as he tried to hug him. "You should stay in Zaphias or everybody will miss you."

"Flynn, I have work." He struggled and pried him off with some effort.

"I'll pay to keep you here. You can live under my bed and stay forever." He never realized just how funny he could be. Almost as funny as Yuri. He laughed loudly, bending over to lay across the table.

"I think you've had enough."

"No, I only had one. I told you just one." He sat upright, only to throw himself back down onto the table. The table was a good spot, it was the only place in the room not spinning. "You drink too much, Yuri. Slow down or you can't make it home."

"There's twelve glasses on the table."

"Youuuuu drink too much." He threw himself into a giggle fit again. Yuri needed help because he wouldn't admit his problem and it was just so ironic.

"I think you should go back to your room."

"No I can't, it's not over yet. I can't leave until it's over because I'm the responsible commandant."

"There are other knights on duty who can see you."

"Good, they can see me only having one drink because we work tomorrow."

"Is everything alright?" Estelle was talking to him. But she sounded so far away, why didn't she just come over and speak with him?

He raised his voice to answer her. "I'm alright Lady Estelle-elise!" He almost referred to her casually in a big crowd, that wasn't good. She was a princess and needed respect.

"Flynn, I'm sitting right next to you, you don't have to speak so loudly." She didn't sound any further away, so he turned his head to see her. She was right, she was sitting in the seat next to his.

"How did you get there so fast?" His head was spinning from moving so quickly and he opted to lay on the table again. When did he start sitting up, anyways? Last he remembered, he was still laying down. "Yuri is a lush, stop letting him drink."

Yuri turned away to talk to Estelle, but he stopped listening once he realized Yuri was speaking too quickly to understand. That wasn't fair, he was sure they were talking about him. His eyes turned to a pile of gald coins left on the table. Who would leave money on the table? He racked his brain and remembered that Yuri's suit was ruined.

"The suit!" He covered his hand with his mouth after blurting that out, not wanting Yuri to notice his new plan. If he wouldn't take the money, he would just give it to him forcefully.

"Flynn what are you doing!" Yuri pulled away as Flynn gripped the hem of his pants.

"Stop noticing me, I'm giving you gald for your suit." This wouldn't work if Yuri was looking as he dug his hand around his pocket.

"Just stay there. Try sitting on your hands or you'll end up pulling my pants down." That was an odd request, but he could sit on his hands. That was so simple. He lifted himself to the side and slipped his hand under himself. The chair tipped, but he couldn't flail his arms for balance if he had to sit on his hands.

He crashed to the floor, laughing uproariously. "Yuri I fell! I can't get up!" Everybody else was watching him, they must have thought it was funny too.

Estelle rushed to his side and asked him if he was alright as Yuri picked him up. He was too busy laughing to answer, it was just so hilarious that he ended up on the floor. Why were they so worried? He felt so fine that he had enough fine to give away.

"Yuri I know how I'm going to fix all the injustice." He grinned widely, proud of his epiphany.

"What's that?"

"I'm going to give away my fine to people who need it so they can all be happy."

"Sure you are." Yuri sat him up in the chair and carefully leaned him down to rest against the table. "Maybe you should just nap."

"I can't nap here, I'm responsible. I have work tomorrow." He suddenly bolted upright. "Paperwork! I have paperwork to finish, Yuri, I have to do it right now!"

"Good, I'll take you down to your office so you can work on that from bed," Yuri offered.

"No I can't leave it's not over…." He trailed off, lost in thought. "I can do my paperwork here. I'll make a budget report on this napkin."

"Good luck." He was happy that Yuri was supporting him. Good friend, good person.

Flynn tried to draw a graph on the cloth napkin with some of the wine left in the bottom of the glasses, but they leaked and ruined his neat lines. He sulked and tried over and over again until the napkin was soaked and dark red.

Yuri tapped his shoulder to catch his attention. He turned more slowly this time, body feeling too heavy to move quickly. Just moments ago he was feeling light and happy, but now he was just wearing weights under his clothing.

"We have to leave, are you going to be okay on your own?" Jo was held closely to his chest, and Judith clung to his arm, caught in a giggle fit nearly as bad as Flynn's.

"No you can't go, you have to stay!" He nearly fell trying to hug Yuri's waist, but he caught him on his way down.

"I'm still in Zaphias, but Jo needs to go to bed. Estelle isn't here right now but she can come check on you if you need."

"Judith can take her home, just stay." He reached his arms out in another attempt to latch on.

"Judy drank what you didn't while you were staring at that napkin." Yuri looked irritated, trying to push off both Flynn and Judith before they crushed him and Jo together. "She's not in any shape to carry Jo."

"Will you at least come visit me tomorrow?" Flynn looked up at him, scared that he might not see Yuri again. Yuri was leaving him, and he was going to be alone, but he did promise…. Good friends keep promises.

"Sure, I'll stop by your office. Judy and I are going now, stay out of trouble."

Flynn slammed his face onto the table, sulking because Yuri left him. He wasn't supposed to be alone. Maybe now was a good time to leave and get to that paperwork, if there was nothing else to do. He pushed himself up against the back of the chair, but it was so hard, why was he so heavy?

The effort to push himself up was too much, and he decided to just sit there until he could move. There were still full glasses of wine on the table. That was rude of Yuri to leave them there like that. Estelle wasn't much of a drinker, so somebody had to drink that wine if nobody else was going to. Getting it thrown away would be a waste.

Well, he'd only had one so far. A few more wouldn't hurt. This was a great idea, his body was already feeling lighter again. The feeling was a lot better than heavy. But moving still was hard, it must be his shirt. It was covered in metal and dangling things and was only weighing him down.

He pulled the bottom of his dress shirt up, using his other arm to hold his white undershirt down. It was impossible to get his arms through it though, so it was acceptable to let it come up. He wriggled an arm out and flailed around trying to get the rest of it off.

"Sir, are you alright?" Flynn whipped his head around to see who was speaking, and the room spun but he couldn't reach to hold it. Everybody he saw was watching him, so it took him a moment to figure out who was speaking to him.

"Sodia when did you get here?" He almost didn't recognize her in something that wasn't armor.

"Sir, I just spoke to you a few hours ago." She looked confused.

"That's impossible." Flynn tried to shake his head but he was too tangled to move it. "I haven't been here for more than a half hour."

"Commandant Flynn… people are starting to go home, it's almost over." He looked around, but there were more people around him than before, that couldn't be true. "Do you… need any help?"

"Yeah, can you grab the bottom of my dress shirt?" He leaned back so she could get a grip on it. She grabbed his shirt and began pulling it back down. "No not like that, I need it off."

"…Sir?" She stopped pulling, but didn't let go.

"It's heavy, I want to take it off." He maneuvered around until he had both arms sticking out the bottom.

"Okay, hold on, Sir-" Flynn was swinging around trying to move his arms and she let go moving her hands up to his collar. She sighed. "You'll rip it if you do that, it unbuttons like this."

He began laughing as she undid his jacket, leaving him in his plain white undershirt. Something was funny and he wasn't sure what. But she was taking off his jacket and it was hilarious.

"Is everything okay- oh! Sodia, what happened?" Estelle returned to the table, face somewhere between surprise and confusion. Flynn turned around to see her and nearly got hung up on the back of the chair.

Sodia suddenly let go of him and faced Estelle. "Lady Estellise, Commandant Flynn…." She paused in thought, and Flynn began laughing again. She couldn't even think of something to say and the princess was right in front of her!

"Yuri told me he wasn't leaving unless Flynn was supervised."

"Yuri Lowell?" Sodia raised her hand to her forehead. "I haven't seen him since he nearly fell off the balcony. I didn't think he was nearly irresponsible enough to leave the commandant like this."

"He said he'd visit me tomorrow!" Flynn interrupted, wanting to share just how great Yuri was. Everybody needed to know. "Yuri was with me and he had to go home but I'll see him at work."

"It might be best if he were to return home for the night," Estelle said.

"No it's not over, I have to stay here and represent people!" Flynn raised his voice to argue, but they ignored him. This was important, he couldn't leave, and they wanted to decide for him.

"Flynn, the party is over." Estelle leaned over to speak to him. "Sodia is going to help you get back to your room."

"Oh." This was sad, he wasn't done having fun yet. But it would be rude to stay if it was ending. Everybody was staying, people really were rude. Except Sodia, she was going to go with him on time.

"Sir, you have to stand up." Sodia lifted Flynn and slung his arm around her shoulders. "Your room is on this floor, it's not far away."

"You're really great, you know that?" He walked, leaning up against her and moving his legs as little as possible. Walking was hard, so she could just walk for him.

"Let's just get you to bed."

"No I can't go to bed, I have paperwork." He would go back to his room and fill out the paperwork before he went to sleep.

"You don't need to do it yet, Sir. You can finish it tomorrow." She tossed him up a bit to lean him against her in a different position. "Stop dragging your feet like that."

Flynn tried to lift his legs higher but they wouldn't respond. He got distracted by everything around him, like that line where the wall met the floor. The line was so wobbly and curved, why didn't he ever notice it? That meant the straight halls were actually circles, didn't it?

"Hey, Sodia." Something else distracted him, and he stared at her.

"Sir?"

"Why is your hair like that?" He reached over to her braid and bumped it, missing when he tried to grab it and holding onto her shoulder instead. "It's only on one side, it just looks wrong. Like you're lopsided."

Sodia kept walking, but stared at him. "Of course, Sir," she eventually said.

"Are we almost there?" He looked around, but all the hallways looked the same. How did he ever find his way around?

"Your office is down this hall." He heard that and tried to take off down the hall faster, but she kept a tight hold on his wrist. "Where is your key?"

Flynn stopped trying to run to think. Yeah, he always locked his door. He kept his keys in his front pocket, but he couldn't fit his hand in the small hole. "You have to help me," he begged.

"Sir, I think you should take your keys out of your own pocket," she stammered, looking away.

"But I can't get it in." He stopped putting any weight on his legs to lean completely on her. "I can't do it."

"Alright, Sir, hold still." She reached her hand into his pocket and quickly fished out a small set of keys. Flynn began laughing as hard as he could, almost choking on his own breath. "Is something funny?"

"You're so red," he forced out, trying to calm down. "Your face is like your hair, it's red."

"Yes, let's just go inside." She opened his door and dragged him in, pulling him away from the desk. "You have to work tomorrow, Sir, Lady Estellise said you should sleep."

Flynn let himself be led into his room. If it was an order then he had to lay down, even if he wanted to stay up. "What about my clothes?"

"You aren't in any shape to change, you'll be fine if you sleep in this for a night." She helped him into his bed, although he only ended up flopping into it on top of the blanket.

"Are you leaving?" His face was buried in his pillow, making him harder to understand.

"Of course Sir, I'm returning to my own room."

Flynn worried he was about to cry. "No you can't leave! Yuri left too and now you're leaving. Everybody is leaving."

"Sir, I have to be in tomorrow, I'll see you then."

"You promise?" He didn't want to be left alone.

"Of course, Sir." She turned away and opened the door to leave. He tried to call for her to come back, but he blacked out, sleeping heavily through the night.

* * *

At six o'clock in the morning, the world exploded. At least, that's what it felt like to Flynn. His heavy, clumsy arms scrambled to find the alarm clock and shut it off before he actually died. Even after he managed to shut it off, his ears rung and his head throbbed. What the hell had hap… _oh_. Fuzzy patches of memory from the previous evening trickled into his mind. _Oh. _Flynn grumbled a few rude words that he would never dare use around Lady Estellise. This was a mistake, because his throat felt like sandpaper. He hadn't gotten this drunk since he was a teenager, and that time had been Yuri's fault, too.

Even if Yuri had gotten him started, he'd allowed himself to drink that much, so he had no excuse to lie here feeling sorry for himself. Recently he'd been putting off his other work to focus on last-minute wedding arrangements, so he had a lot to catch up on. He couldn't afford to take a sick day, so he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed. He went to his closet, leaning on the doorway as he pulled out his uniform. He paused for a moment, and then decided that it was highly unlikely he'd need armour today and he wasn't sure if his lead limbs could support the weight.

He called it good when he was in pants, a shirt, and the blue and white overshirt. He gave up on the belt after messing up on the buckle a few times and throwing it across the room in frustration. Without even bothering to put on shoes or comb his hair, he stumbled toward his office. Halfway there, his stomach lurched and its contents threatened to come back up. He leaned on the wall and put a hand to his aching head. Perhaps a trip to the bathroom first.

Flynn settled himself at his desk, and decided that getting up had been the right decision. Even if he wanted to sleep in, he was too busy throwing up to stay in bed. He made the trip from his office to his bathroom more often than he ever had any other day. His mouth was dry, his head felt like it was splitting in two, the light did little more than blind him, and he struggled to read his papers because the numbers and letters blurred together.

Most of the previous night was remembered in small, hazy patches, with large gaps between them. He definitely remembered that Yuri convinced him to have that first drink, knowing that he would end up like that. There were a lot of people there, and some of them were his own soldiers. Dammit, how was he supposed to command respect when he was swinging around in his chair like a bored child?

There was a knock at the door, and he clutched his head as the sound vibrated through the room. "Come in."

He'd almost worried that it was going to be Yuri, but Yuri never knocked. Sodia entered, but that was almost as bad. She had been there last night, but he was so far gone by then that he even questioned if she was with him at all. But somebody had to have brought him to his room.

"You asked me to come see you last night, Commandant?" She stood straight, in far better condition than he was. He was almost jealous, but he supposed he deserved it for being so irresponsible, even if he was miserable.

"I did?" He tried to think back, but the effort sent a sharp pain through his head and he gave up. "I can't imagine what for, I'm sorry to call you all the way down here for nothing."

"It's no problem, Sir, it wasn't far out of my way." He knew that his office was actually a fair distance from the training yard, making him feel guilty that she would pass it off like that just to make him feel better.

"You can disregard any orders I gave last night, I wouldn't remember them." He hoped the only order he gave her was to visit him, but there was no reason for it. Why would he ask her to come to his office? Perhaps he was better off not remembering that.

"Will that be all?"

He squinted and strained his eyes; something was different and he wasn't sure what exactly. After a time he hoped wasn't too long, he pinpointed it, tugging on a messy bit of hair next to his ear. "Your hair. You didn't braid it?"

She watched him, eyebrows furrowing together, but she only said, "I didn't have time this morning."

"You're already down here, you can braid it if you want before you leave. It's not busy today." If she had to skip that to come all the way down to his office, he could at least let her fix it.

"I…. Thank you, Sir." She turned her eyes to the side wall, away from him. "If I may ask, are you alright?"

"You mean about last night?" He put his pen down and held his face in his hands. "I've been better, but I should have refrained. I knew this would happen if I drank, and it's no excuse to miss work."

"I heard it was Yuri Lowell's influence."

Of course it all came down to Yuri again. Granted, it really was Yuri's fault this time, but that wasn't what he wanted to think about. "It was my own judgment that got me into this." This was also true. If anything, he would recall this the next time Yuri tried to give him anything.

"I hardly believe that you would have made such a choice on your own." She finished with her hair and stood straight again.

"My choices are my choices." He gave her a warning look, ending the Yuri topic with that. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, Sir, I'll take my leave." She saluted and left the room quickly.

Flynn didn't mean to rush her out, but his stomach was turning. As soon as the door shut, he pushed away from the desk, stumbling his way into the bathroom as quickly as he could. He thumped into the walls a few times on the way there, but he made it in time to empty his stomach in the toilet.

He must have lost a week's worth of food by this point. It shouldn't even be possible to hold that much inside of him. Spitting up the last bit, he wiped his mouth off and groaned. This was going to be a painful day. After filling up a glass of water, he hobbled back to his desk and picked up the pen once again.

A couple hours later, the door opened again. To Yuri's credit, he didn't slam the door open and stride right up to Flynn's desk like he usually did. This time he cautiously opened the door and poked his head in, looking around before entering. "Hey, you're actually up."

Flynn glanced up at him from his desk. "Unfortunately."

Yuri walked over to the desk and sat down on the edge of it. "Good morning."

"No, it's not."

"Heh, I suppose not for you. Hey, I'm sorry about leaving you last night. I wasn't expecting Judy to drink. She probably had just one because everyone else was having wine, but she's got worse tolerance than you."

"It's fine," Flynn said. "You have to take care of your family first. I understand."

"You did enjoy yourself though, right?"

"At the time, I suppose," Flynn said. He put down his pen and rested his face in his hand. He was barely getting any work done today anyway. "I should have done that, though. Maybe I was off duty, but I still have an image to maintain. I'm going to have to work hard to make up for my lapse of judgement."

Yuri glared at him in annoyance. "Flynn, you said you would calm down after the wedding."

"Yes, but now I need to make up for making a fool of myself."

"Flynn, look at yourself." Yuri leaned over the desk and grabbed Flynn's shoulders. "You're a wreck. Go to bed and sleep it off."

"I can't. I have things to do."

Yuri glared at him for a about half a minute, and then said, "Fine." He pulled back and walked to the door to Flynn's personal rooms.

"What are you doing?" Flynn asked. He lacked the energy to get up and stop Yuri from barging into his home, so he just had to sit tight and be thankful it was just Yuri.

"I'm making you lunch," Yuri said. He glanced at the clock on the wall and added, "Well, brunch I guess."

Flynn shook his head. "Oh, no. I appreciate the offer, but I couldn't stomach anything right now."

"Well, you're going to eat this. Guaranteed hangover cure; I promise. Do your damn paperwork and I'll be back in a couple minutes.

He shut the door, and Flynn was pretty sure he heard the lock click. Flynn stared at the door, wondering exactly when his and Yuri's relationship had reached a point where Yuri could lock Flynn out of his own home and Flynn wasn't even that mad about it. Part of it was probably that he just didn't have the motivation to get mad right now. With a sigh, he turned back to work and tried not to think about whatever Yuri was getting up to in his kitchen.

About fifteen minutes later, he heard a knock at the door and said, "Come in." Thankfully whoever it was had knocked gently, avoiding setting off Flynn's killer headache. He looked up to see Sodia, her hair once again braided at the side.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, sir," she said, standing at attention in front of his desk. "We've done a search of the would-be assassin's body and found some evidence as to who employed him."

Just as she was about to hand him a paper, the door to his rooms burst open and Yuri emerged with a plate and a glass of water. Sodia jumped a bit, and turned to him in surprise. Her gaze narrowed, and she said, "Yuri Lowell," in way of greeting.

Yuri deflated a bit when he saw her. "Oh. Hi."

Flynn smelled the strong whiff of bacon wafting from his kitchen. Oh, no, he didn't want bacon right now. The very thought of eating something so greasy and unhealthy made his stomach churn .

Yuri ignored his unhappy expression and plopped the plate down in front of him. "Here, a delicious bacon sandwich, just for you."

"I appreciate the effort, Yuri, but I really don't feel like-"

"Shut up and eat. It'll be good for you."

Flynn looked down at the sandwich in distaste. He'd gone a whole hour now without having to run to the bathroom to empty his stomach, and the thought of putting something new in there was daunting.

"Actually, sir," Sodia said, "I've read that bacon sandwiches are indeed a good cure for a hangover. It's the protein and carbohydrates."

Flynn sighed and picked up the sandwich. "If you insist."

Yuri pouted. "What, so you'll listen to her and not me?"

Sodia glared at Yuri. "I always have the commandant's best interests in mind."

"Uh-huh. Good for you."

Flynn swallowed his first bite and then said, "Please don't fight, you two. Sodia, what is the evidence you found?"

"Sorry, sir!" She stood up a bit straighter and handed him a sheet of paper. "As you can see, it appears that the assassin was hired by none other than Harry Whitehorse in an attempt to destabilize the empire!"

Flynn furrowed his brow. He rested both elbows on the desk, sandwich in one hand and letter in the other, and slowly chewed as his eyes skimmed over the letter. It did indeed promise the assassin a large sum to murder Lady Katarina, and the name 'Harry Whitehorse' was scrawled messily at the bottom.

"Let me see that." Yuri snatched the letter right out of Flynn's hand.

"You cannot take that!" Sodia said, immediately reaching for it. "That is confidential evidence – I cannot allow a civilian to-"

Flynn held up his hand to quiet her down and allowed Yuri to look over it. When he reached the bottom of the letter, he laughed out loud and tossed it back on the desk. "Man, are these clowns even trying?"

Sodia frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That's not Harry's signature at all. Look, I have his signature right here." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, handing it over to Flynn.

Flynn glanced over it. It was a note from Harry reminding Yuri that if the top members of Brave Vesperia did not attend Ioder's wedding, it would look very bad for the Union and that if he was going to call in sick he'd better have a doctor's note verifying he was literally at death's door. At the bottom was his signature, neat and tidy and looking nothing like the messy scrawl on the assassin's note. "It would appear someone is trying to frame Harry Whitehorse."

"I see, sir," Sodia said. "That was the only lead we had, other than that the man is likely from the assassin's guild."

"Why do you say that?" Yuri asked, crossing his arms.

"He was clearly an assassin," Sodia said. "It's the only logical conclusion."

"I don't know about that," Yuri said. "The guy was wearing all black, just like assassin's in dumb novels do. Any real assassin wouldn't be caught dead in all black, because it's too easy to spot. Nah, if you're really trying to sneak around unnoticed, you want to wear shades of grey or dark green – you know, actual camouflage. Black's pretty impractical. Assassins only use it in fiction because it looks cool."

"Black is impractical but eminently stylish? That explains your fashion choices, Yuri," Flynn said after swallowing another huge bite of his sandwich. Surprisingly, it seemed to be settling in his stomach without much protest. That was a relief.

Yuri smacked the back of Flynn's head.

"Commandant!" Sodia shouted, stepping forward and reaching for her sword.

Yuri held his hands up and took a step back. "Whoa, slow down. No one's trying to beat up your precious commandant."

"At ease, Sodia," Flynn said.

Sodia crossed her arms and glared at Yuri for a few seconds before turning her attention back to Flynn. "If the assassin was not from the guild, who do you think he works for?"

Flynn briefly wondered why Sodia was directing her question at him when Yuri had been the one to explain that the man wasn't a properly trained assassin. "What probably happened is that a noble who is unhappy with the guilds sent one of his own men with a poorly forged letter, hoping to stir up tensions between the empire and the guilds. Start your investigation with a list of nobles who are known to take issue with cooperating with the Union."

"Very good, sir. I'll direct the investigation." She saluted, added, "I hope you feel better soon, sir," and then left the office.

On her way out, Yuri called, "You're welcome!" but she ignored him.

Once Sodia was gone, Flynn swallowed the last of his sandwich and said, "Thank you for lunch, Yuri. I think it is actually helping."

"There, I told you. Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"Because the occasions when you are both correct and helpful are few and far between." He smiled a bit, and then Yuri smacked his head again.

"We're heading back to Dahngrest as soon as I get back," Yuri said. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, I think I have everything covered. Thank you for all of your assistance."

"Alright. If you ever need anything, just send word to Dahngrest." He started leaving the office, and then paused to glanced back over his shoulder. "Actually, send it to Brave Vesperia as a commission; we could use the money."

Flynn immediately reached for his drawer where he kept his wallet. "If you need money-"

Yuri waved his hand without turning around. "It was a joke. See you around."

"Yeah. See you." Yuri left the office, and then Flynn buckled down and got back to work.

* * *

Oliver wasn't pleased to be pulled away from his toys after breakfast and told he had to leave. He complained as loudly as ever, Estelle prying him off her knees so she could show him what she was putting into his backpack for his very first day of preschool. She tried to placate him, pulling his fingers off gently and rubbing his back to quiet his crying.

"Get up, you need changed." Unlike Estelle, Rita was not having this and yanked him upwards.

"No! Down!" He kicked at her, planting his foot in her knee.

"Oh, Rita, be gentle with him," Estelle said as she dropped him. Oliver landed on his feet, but threw himself to the ground and wailed. "Oliver, calm down sweetie, you're going to be fine. School will be fun."

"Estelle stop babying him." She lifted him by his wrist back to a standing position, but he thrashed until he was laying on the floor again and screaming unintelligibly.

"He's just scared, he's never been away like this before." Estelle set his backpack aside to pull him close, but he swung at her. She scowled but remained quiet.

"No hitting, I'll hit you back." Rita pulled him back up and held him up against her chest, muffling his cries into her shirt. He stopped flailing now that his arms were pinned to his side.

"I don't think he's ready, we should keep him here." Estelle tried to hold his hand, but Rita leaned back out of her reach.

"You agreed to try this. If he's throwing a fit it means he needs to be away even more." He had realized they could still speak over him and raised his voice until he started coughing.

"He's going to choke, you should at least put him down." She looked torn between keeping Oliver smiling and not wanting to argue with Rita.

"He's choking because he's not breathing." Rita did loosen her grip enough that he could turn his head, though. "He's too busy screaming to breathe."

"But what if he's still like this at the preschool?" Oliver was still crying, but had quieted down to a more reasonable level.

"It's their job to quiet him down. He'll play with the other kids and be too busy to cry." She put him back down on the floor next to her, the front of her shirt soaked with his tears. He leaned up against her and gripped a fistful of her sleeve.

"But I feel bad just making it their problem like that." Estelle scooted over to sit next to him and wipe his face clean. He cried still, but his eyes had dried up and he was only sitting with a red face trying to force out more tears.

"It _is _their problem, it's a preschool. It's what they're paid to do." She lifted Oliver's arms up to change him out of his pajama shirt once Estelle was done drying his face.

"It's itchy." Oliver had calmed down enough to speak coherently, but twisted to try and take his shirt off. "Want my shirt back."

"You're fine." Rita slipped a jacket on him and buttoned it up to keep him from pulling out of it. They had bought him a new set of clothes from a store in the public quarter so that he could be dressed like all the other children.

"Shouldn't we at least and put him in a different shirt?" Estelle offered.

"They're all the same material, he's just being difficult. Hey, stand up so I can get your pants off." Oliver didn't move, but let himself be pulled up.

Estelle brought over his backpack and sorted through it now that Oliver was being civil. "Your pencils and crayons are in here, okay? And you have a change of clothes in this pocket. I put your ducky blanket in here for naptime." He nodded, but she wasn't sure if he was even listening.

Rita finished putting his shoes on and picked him up. "We're running behind, thanks to that episode. Tell Mom you'll be back." Oliver whimpered and rubbed his eyes, but waved to her.

Estelle hugged him tightly, catching Rita in it. "You'll be back home in a few hours, okay? When you get back we can play all you want. You're just going to play with some other kids."

Oliver fussed briefly and tried to hold onto her as she pulled away, but he was done screaming. "I'll be back when I drop him off," Rita said, stepping back before Estelle could hold them up any longer, or try to convince her to let him stay home.

She let Oliver walk alongside her once they left the royal quarter, keeping a tight hold on his hand all the way. He was easily distracted and often tried to wander off until she pulled him back, but he seemed happy to just walk outside with her. His conversation was hardly intelligible, mostly babbling about the adventures his toys had, but it relaxed him before he would have to spend his first day with strangers.

They managed to just barely make it on time for his noon class. He was checked in as Oliver Mordio; as far as everybody but the principal were concerned, she was his mother. "Heurassein" was too recognizable a name, and Oliver couldn't be a normal kid here if anybody knew he was related to the princess.

"He's a little fussy right now, this is the first time he's been outside like this." Oliver hid behind Rita's legs as she checked him in with the teacher. Ms. Jones, according to the name on the chalkboard on the other side of the room. "Feel free to sit him in time out if he doesn't share, or whatever you do."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," she smiled. "We have lots of only children who haven't learned to share, they're still kids."

"Great. I'll be here to pick him up later." She pulled Oliver out from behind her and moved to hand him off to her.

"No!" He held onto her hand tightly and refused to move.

"We don't have time for this, you can play with all the other kids." There were already about 15 children sitting in chairs at large round desks, talking with each other and coloring together.

"I wanna stay home." He glared and tried to move back behind her.

"It's alright, Oliver." Ms. Jones leaned down to speak to him. "We're just going to play with each other today. Can you give it a try?"

He looked scared, obviously not wanting to stick around with a bunch of kids and some older woman he didn't know. Rita nudged him forward and he kept walking, nervously standing next to his new teacher.

"Bye, Oliver. I'll pick you up when school's out," she told him.

All he could get out was a short "Bye" before leaving to take a seat

* * *

"Sorry I'm late. Where's Oliver?" Rita came back to the preschool later than she was supposed to. Estelle was decidedly unhappy when she returned without him, but it wasn't her fault she got caught up in cleaning up the remnants of another explosion. It was just routine to finish her work and walk down the hallway to their suite. She was only a few minutes late, it wasn't as if Oliver could understand the difference between 15 minutes yet.

"It's no problem at all, he's right over there with the others." Ms. Jones looked up from her conversation with the principal – Cath Moss, if she recalled correctly – to point across the room. Oliver was sitting on the carpet with another boy and girl, all of them knocking plastic toys into each other. He was thankfully quiet around them, quieter than he had been around Jo at first.

"I hope he wasn't any trouble." Oliver was never this quiet around strangers, and she almost felt bad for how much she would have had to put up with to get him this friendly.

"Not any more than any of the others," she laughed. That was just vague enough to say that she did have to fight with him. "He settled right in when they wanted to play."

"That's good, he doesn't usually play with other kids at home." Jo didn't come to visit often enough for him to be raised like he had a sibling. "Hey Oliver, get over here, we're going home."

Oliver whipped his head around once she raised her voice. "Mom!" He dropped his toys at his feet and ran over to tackle her knees.

"Yeah, I missed you too. Go get your backpack, you left it over there." Admittedly being able to drop him off for a few hours was a welcome break. He ran back just as quickly to retrieve his pack from the floor and latch back onto her side.

"Are we going home?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door.

Cath stood suddenly as she turned to leave. "I'll walk you two out, I have a question. Please excuse me." She nodded towards Ms. Jones.

"What is it?" It could have had something to do with his unique registration, but she was sure they'd already answered any questions.

When the door shut behind them, she glanced between Rita and Oliver and spoke with her voice lowered. "I was just curious about 'Mom'. I recall being told he was the prince?"

Damn, that should have been something they thought about. This woman hardly seemed like somebody they could reason with over a slip like that. Rita covered her mouth with her free hand and giggled the same way Estelle always did. "Poor kid is just confused, since I live with him and his mom. Doesn't understand that he can't have two moms, probably because he doesn't have a dad."

"I wonder." Rita didn't like the tone she was taking. Oliver was a little kid, it was perfectly believable. After all, they would have trouble convincing him to _not _call her "Mom."

"But Mom is Mom." Oliver looked up at her, confused.

"Don't worry, she knows." Rita rubbed the back of his head as if he was in on it. All he did was look up at her, eyebrows knitted together as he tried to figure out what she meant.

"Of course, I didn't accuse you of anything."

"Hey, we wouldn't convince anybody if he called me anything else. We're doing this so that he won't be treated differently." Even if it was the truth, she was being completely unreasonable. The entire plan hinged on everybody believing that she was his mother.

"Obviously. I'm sorry if I wasted your time." They reached the edge of the school grounds. "I'll take my leave here."

"We'll be back tomorrow." She didn't feel the need to properly say goodbye after a discussion like that. Oliver waved goodbye silently and followed Rita, clutching her hand.

"Are you okay?" He looked up at her as they walked.

"It's fine, don't mind her." Rita smiled at him. "Let's just go back home."

"Is Mom home? I miss you." He was being far more civil on the trip back home. Hopefully now that he knew that he could play with some of the other kids, he wouldn't put up a fight.

"Yeah, we'll go see Mom." Estelle probably missed him more than he missed her. Both of them would have to get used to being on their own.

"I'm hungry. Can Mom make lunch?"

"Didn't you eat at school?"

"Yes. We had lunch." She would have asked why he was still hungry, but it clicked quickly. He probably didn't eat much since he was so picky. Well, if he was a normal boy, he would have to put up with snacks that he didn't like, like everyone else.

"Sure, we can make you a lunch after school every day, if you're good."

"Thank you. I love you, Mom." He kept walked and stared ahead like he hadn't said anything, but it was still nice to hear all the same. It didn't matter that they had to put up an act like that, he was still her son.

Rita picked him up to carry him up the steps to the royal quarter and gave him a quick hug. "I love you, too. Let's get home."


	20. Vacation

**Chapter Twenty: Vacation**

Flynn stood in the council chamber, listening to Sodia give a report. He'd already delivered his own speech explaining the need for a higher budget for the Knight Academy. Getting more money out of the Council was like milking a rock, but he hoped that explaining the natural progression of inflation might help. The budget hadn't been updated since before Alexei was commandant, and equipment had grown significantly more expensive since then. He wasn't sure if they'd been convinced, but he'd done his best.

He tried very hard to concentrate on Sodia's report of the monster troubles in Hypionia and why they needed an increased budget to protect Aurnion. He'd helped her prepare the report, after all. However, he'd been so busy helping her prepare it yesterday that he'd left his own report to the last minute and then stayed up all night to finish it. The amount of sleep he'd gotten last night could more accurately be tallied in minutes rather than hours. He hadn't slept much the previous night, either, because he'd had a signature spree, an event that was becoming alarmingly common in his life. Sometimes before bed he went around his office and gathered up every paper he could find that he was supposed to sign off on, brought them all to his room, and lay on the floor signing everything in sight until he passed out on the carpet. He couldn't even remember exactly what he'd been doing the night before that, but it certainly hadn't involved his bed.

His attention kept drifting from Sodia's words. She kept talking but all he wanted to do was go back to his office and sit down and have a good nap at his desk. Or, he supposed, his bed. When had he reached a point in his life when his first thought about sleep was naps snatched at his desk? The world suddenly tilted and Flynn jerked himself upright, hoping no one had noticed. Crap, he was so tired… Sodia was still talking, but she sounded very far away even though she was right next to him. His head felt so heavy, and he kept having to pull it up again after his chin hit his chest. Lady Estellise was in the room, sitting near Master Ioder. He hoped she wasn't worrying about him. He wasn't actually in any trouble, he was just a little tired.

Flynn closed his eyes for a couple seconds. It was amazing how relieving even a couple seconds were, but he forced them open again. He could sleep when this meeting was over. How much longer was this meeting supposed to last? He just wanted to lie down and get about half an hour of sleep before getting back to work. His bed sounded like the most beautiful place in the entire world right about now…

"…dant?! Commandant, are you alright?"

Flynn opened his eyes and saw the ceiling. What the hell? When had he reached the floor, and why did his head hurt so much? "Ugh… what happened?"

"Flynn!" Estelle jumped over the table to run to him. "Flynn, are you ok? What happened?"

"You fainted, sir," Sodia said, crouching next to him. The Council was silent, staring at him in shock. Ioder was on his feet, watching with concern.

"I'm sorry," Flynn said, sitting upright. He put his hand to the back of his throbbing head, and shook it slightly to try and get rid of the faint ringing in his ears. He looked around to figure out where exactly he was. He saw the entire Council staring at him, some worried, some annoyed, and most just shocked. He frowned in confusion, trying to remember why he was in the council chamber in the first place. He looked to Estelle and said, "What exactly is happening?"

Estelle gasped. "Oh, no, did you hit your head that hard? Do you have…" she whispered the word fearfully, "_amnesia?_ I've read about that in books, and it's horrible! Please, Flynn, do you know who I am? Do you know who _you_ are?"

"Please calm down," Flynn said. "I assure you it's nothing like that."

"Tell me what my name is, Flynn!" Estelle demanded.

Flynn rubbed his sore head as he said, "You are Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein, and I am Commandant Flynn Scifo. Are you satisfied?" To be honest, he still couldn't remember exactly what he'd been doing before waking up on the floor, but he still had the mental facilities to work out that since he'd been working on the request for an increased academy budget the night before, it had probably been about that.

Estelle relaxed. "Oh, thank goodness. Do you need healing?" Estelle asked, her face still torn up with worry.

"I don't think so," Flynn said. "I hit my head pretty hard but I don't think healing magic can do much for a headache."

"You should see a doctor, sir," Sodia said.

"That won't be necessary," Flynn said, getting to his feet. His head spun with dizziness, but he managed to stay upright. "I'm not sick; I just fell asleep on my feet for a second." He looked to Ioder and said, "Please forgive the interruption. It was not my intention to interrupt to the meeting."

Ioder shook his head. "No, Major Sodia is correct. You should visit the hospital wing and have a doctor look at you."

"I assure you that is not necessary."

"Flynn!" Estelle said, planting her hands on her hips. "You just fainted! Ioder is right, you need to get checked by a doctor!"

"You aren't needed for the rest of the meeting, Flynn," Ioder said. "Please, I would feel much better if you went to the doctor."

Flynn sighed. "If you insist, Your Majesty."

"Come with me, Flynn," Estelle said, grabbing his arm. "I'll go with you."

"Sir, I'll meet with you once the meeting is over," Sodia said.

"Thank you, Sodia." Estelle pulled him out of the council chamber and down the hall. "Lady Estellise, this really isn't necessary. I feel fine." Well, he had a headache and he was still a bit dizzy, but he had just slammed his head against the floor so that was to be expected.

When Estelle looked at him, she was surprisingly angry. "I _told_ you to relax, Flynn! I told you that you're working too hard and are going to make yourself sick. You need to take better care of yourself."

"I'm sorry for worrying you."

After a few minutes they reached the infirmary and Estelle marched him through the door. The doctor immediately got up when he saw them. "Oh, Lady Estellise, how can I-"

"Flynn fainted and hit his head. Help him."

"Yes, of course. Commandant, please follow me."

"I assure you I am quite fine." Estelle pushed him in the back, forcing him to follow the doctor through a door to a smaller room. He sat down on the edge of the bed, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible so he could get back to work.

"He hit his head, you say?" the doctor asked, looking to Estelle. She nodded, and the doctor looked to Flynn. "Alright. Do you know your name?"

Flynn glared at him. The doctor was treating him like an invalid. "Yes," he said coldly. "I already went over this with Lady Estellise. I am Commandant Flynn Scifo."

"Good. And do you know what day it is?"

"It's…" He faltered, having to think about this for a few seconds. Estelle bit her lip and clutched her hands with worry, but Flynn attributed his confusion to the fact that he'd been awake for over twenty-four hours with only a short nap to tide him over. Finally the answer came to him, and he said, "It's Thursday, the twenty-second. It's roughly eleven-thirty in the morning."

The doctor frowned, and then asked ,"Do you know where you are?"

These questions were ridiculous. "Yes, we are in the infirmary in the castle, which is at the centre of Zaphias, which is the capital of the empire. Zaphias is located in southern Ilyccia. I told you, I am _fine_. I just fell asleep on my feet; this is really unneeded."

"Just making sure, Commandant," the doctor said. "You can never be too careful with head injuries."

Then the appointment dragged on. And on. The only plus was that the doctor gave him a bag filled with ice to hold against his head. Flynn complied with steadily increasing frustration as the doctor insisted on checking his pulse, his eyesight, his hearing, his reflexes, and interrogating him about his sleeping schedule. When the doctor tested his balance, he tried to explain that he'd been having trouble staying upright even before hitting his head, and to attribute his dizziness to his lack of sleep. His eyes were heavy and his muscles ached from lack of sleep, but the doctor seemed to be worried that this was a side effect of hitting his head. By the time Flynn had convinced him that he'd been just as drowsy before he hit his head, at least half an hour had passed.

As the doctor was wrapping up, the door opened again and Ioder and Sodia entered the room. The doctor jumped to attention and the bowed. "Your Majesty, how can I help you?"

"I'm just checking on Flynn. Is he alright?"

Sodia stood by Estelle and gave Flynn a worried look. Flynn tried to tell her with his eyes that she was worrying about nothing, but it was hard to communication with his eyes when they insisted on closing.

"There's nothing to worry too much about," the doctor said, and Sodia visibly relaxed. Flynn smiled in satisfaction. See, he'd told them he was perfectly fine.

"However," the doctor said, "I think he's suffered a mild concussion in addition to severe sleep deprivation."

"Oh, dear," Ioder said, frowning as he looked to Flynn. "What treatment do you recommend?"

Flynn glared at the doctor's back. His sleep deprivation was hardly severe. He'd just skipped sleeping a couple times to get work done. It wasn't that big of a deal.

"Quite simply? A vacation." The doctor turned to Flynn and said, "You need to get away from work for a while, maybe a week or two. Get a lot of rest and take it easy."

"Thank you for your advice," Flynn said, "but I cannot afford to take leave at this time."

Sodia marched across the room and stood in front of him. She looked down at him, and then said, "Sir! Please accept my apologies in advance for this!"

"Apology? What-"

Sodia slapped him across the face. Flynn dropped the ice pack and stared up at her in shock while Estelle gasped in surprise. "S-Sodia, what-?"

"You need to take better care of yourself, sir," Sodia said firmly. "You are the example to which all knights aspire! A knight cannot protect their home or their friends if they do not take care of their own well-being first. You are allowing yourself to reach a hindered physical state and setting a poor example for the knights. You must take care of your own health before you care for the empire." She glared at him with fire in her eyes, her hands on her hips as she loomed over him.

Flynn stared at her in shock, and then Sodia abruptly stood up straight and saluted. "I apologise for this breach of etiquette, sir. I will accept any punishment you see fit to give me."

Flynn blinked. "No, it's quite alright. I probably deserved that." His cheek still throbbed from where she'd struck him, and he grabbed the ice to put back on his head.

Estelle giggled a bit, covering her smile with her hand.

"Right," the doctor said, glancing between Flynn and Sodia. "All I can medically recommend is lots of rest. However, for the rest of today someone should wake you up every hour or so to make sure your concussion hasn't worsened, ask you the same questions I did earlier and such."

"You should come back with me," Estelle said. "I have nothing planned for the rest of the day, so I can take care of you."

"Oh, Lady Estellise," Flynn said, "I couldn't impose-"

"That would be most kind of you, Estellise," Ioder said. "I doubt Sodia has the time to stay with Flynn for the entire afternoon. I will arrange for his vacation."

"I don't need arrangements," Flynn said. "If you insist, I will start working half-days for a week or so."

"Ahem," the doctor said, "a half-day is not the same as taking a vacation. In my medical opinion, you shouldn't do any sort of work that's mentally or physically stressful for at least a week to ensure you fully recover from your concussion. That's not even considering how much you need to get a few days of solid sleep."

"But a whole week away from work is impossible with my schedule," Flynn said.

"No, Flynn," Ioder said. "Don't worry about it; I will take care of all arrangements. An unhealthy commandant is of no use to the empire."

Flynn sighed heavily. "If you insist, Your Majesty."

"Come on, Flynn," Estelle said, taking his hand. "I'll make sure you don't go into a coma."

Flynn stood up. "That's, uh, very nice of you, Lady Estellise." She led him out of the infirmary and down the hall, with Flynn still pressing the bag of ice to his head. The bag was soaked with melting ice, which dripped down the back of his neck.

When they reached Estelle's place, Rita and Oliver sat at the kitchen. Oliver excitedly babbled about his day at pre-school, while Rita nodded along, pretending she understood more than a few words of his rant. Oliver broke off as soon as they entered.

"Uncle Flynn!" He hopped down from his chair and ran right at him, crashing into his legs.

"Oof!" The collision set off his dizziness, and Estelle grabbed his shoulder to keep him from falling over.

"Are you here to play with me?"

Estelle looked down at him with a small smile. "Oliver, sweetie, Uncle Flynn isn't feeling well right now. He'll play with you later, alright?"

Rita turned around in her chair. "What's up with Flynn?"

"It's nothing," Flynn said as Estelle pried Oliver off of his legs.

Estelle glared at him, and then said, "Flynn is sleep deprived and then he fainted and now he has a concussion."

Flynn smiled sheepishly as Rita rolled her eyes. She got up from the table and said, "Well, I've got to get back to work. Don't, you know, die or anything."

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Mordio."

"This way, Flynn," Estelle said, half-dragging him to the spare bedroom." She stood in the doorway and said, "You go to sleep now, but the doctor said I have to wake you up every hour."

"I understand." He crossed the room and shrugged off his armour. His body felt significantly lighter once it was gone, and then without another word he collapsed onto the bed. Estelle hurried over to pull the covers back so he could actually get underneath them rather than just lying on top of the comforter. Flynn rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, already able to feel himself slipping into a deep sleep.

"Have a good sleep, Flynn," Estelle said, pulling the covers up around him. "Let me know if you need anything."

He was already half-asleep when he mumbled, "Thank you, Estelle…" He didn't even hear her leave the room.

* * *

Karol had been beside himself with excitement when they got an official commission from the emperor himself. If they were getting job requests from the emperor himself, they were really making it as a guild. Yuri was pretty pleased with it, too, and his pleasure only increased when he read what the job actually was.

Less than a day later, Yuri stood in Flynn's office with a smirk on his face. "Ready to go?"

"I suppose I have no choice," Flynn said, looking longingly at his desk.

"Nope," Yuri said, holding up the letter from Ioder. "I'm on orders from the emperor."

"Since when do you follow orders from the emperor?"

"Since he's paying me." Yuri walked over to Flynn and said, "Give me your bag."

Flynn pulled his bag close. "I can carry it, thanks."

Yuri glared at him. "Hand it over."

"It's quite al-"

Yuri snatched it out of Flynn's hands before he could protest further, and then spun around as he ripped it open.

"Yuri!" Flynn shouted, trying to reach around Yuri's arms. "Give that back!"

"What the hell is this here for?" He reached into the bag and pulled out the shirt from Flynn's uniform. "Flynn, you are not going to need your uniform in Dahngrest."

"I can pack whatever clothes I want, Yuri," Flynn said.

Yuri turned around and shoved the bag at Flynn's chest. "You're not bringing your uniform on vacation. Go back and repack, bring _only_ casual clothes."

Flynn frowned. "I don't really have that many casual clothes."

Yuri sighed. "Pack what you have and if you need more you can borrow my clothes or buy more in Dahngrest."

Flynn glared at him, and then stormed off back to his room to re-pack his bag. As he left, Yuri called, "And don't think I'm not going to search your bag again!"

When Flynn re-emerged, his bag was significantly lighter. Yuri held out his hand, and Flynn passed it over with a scowl. Yuri rifled through his belongings, searching for any sign of official gear or paperwork stashed in a hidden pocket.

"Satisfied?" Flynn said when Yuri looked up and handed it back to him.

"Seems fine. Man, you really don't have many clothes, do you?"

"The occasions when I don't need to be in uniform are few and far between."

"I can see that." He currently wore one of his few casual outfits, which Yuri didn't think actually counted as casual, since it was stiff, collared, and covered in fancy trim. A glimmer of gold at Flynn's wrist caught his attention, and before Flynn could stop him he grabbed his arm and pulled his wrist closer. When he got a good look, he laughed out loud. "Flynn, do these cufflinks have your initials on them?!"

Flynn scowled and pulled his hand back. "They were a gift. It would have been rude not to put them on this shirt, and it's not like I expected to wear it very often."

"You look like a ponce. Ten-year-old you would be laughing his ass off."

"Ten-year-old me would be too impressed with me being the commandant to worry about clothes." He slung his bag over his shoulder and sighed. "Honestly, Yuri, I'm not a huge fan of the clothes, either. But, in my first couple years as commandant, whenever I went out of my room in comfortable, casual clothing a bunch of nobles threw a fit and tried to use it as evidence that I wasn't cut out for the high-class, professional world of politics."

Yuri dropped his smile. He could laugh at Flynn's clothes all day, but if asshole nobles were giving his friend a hard time about something as stupid as clothes, that pissed him off. "Who cares what those assholes think?"

"Because a lot of them are on the Council and cooperating with them is part of my job. Don't worry about it, Yuri. I could probably get away with wearing a t-shirt now that I'm more established, but I'd rather avoid the uproar."

"Alright. Well, you can wear whatever the hell you want in Dahngrest, so let's get going." They started walking across the office, but Yuri paused when he heard something crinkle. The crinkling suspiciously stopped as soon as Flynn paused and turned around.

"Is something wrong?"

Yuri frowned, and then kept walking. He came up right behind Flynn, and then slapped him in the back. The crackle of paper resounded throughout the office. "A-ha!" Yuri cried. "I knew it. You're smuggling paperwork, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Flynn said stiffly.

"You're a terrible liar. Take your shirt off."

"I am not taking my shirt off, Yuri."

"You're trying to sneak work in your vacation. I am under strict instructions from Ioder to keep you from doing anything related to work."

"You're wrong. This shirt has been starched; that's what you felt."

"I'm not an idiot, Flynn." He grabbed the collar of Flynn's shirt and started unbuttoning it.

"Get off of me, Yuri!" Flynn grabbed his wrists and struggled to fight him off.

"Take off your damn shirt and give me the papers." They struggled for a couple minutes, pushing, shoving, grabbing hair, and overall acting like children. Flynn forcefully shoved Yuri away, and then he stumbled and fell to the ground. He kicked out at Flynn's legs, bringing him toppling down next to him. Flynn lunged at Yuri, pinning his shoulders to the ground, until Yuri kneed him in the gut and shoved him off. Yuri leapt at him before he get up, slamming his chest into the ground and pinning his arm behind his back.

Yuri panted for breath, his messy hair hanging around his face as a triumphant grin stretched across his face. "Ha!"

Flynn struggled to get up, but Yuri straddled his legs and held his arm tight, twisted almost painfully behind his back. "Dammit, Yuri!"

"That's… payback," Yuri panted. Flynn always used to win these little spats when they were children, especially once he hit his growth spurt first and Yuri spent the first half of their teenage years trying to catch up. Yuri grabbed the back of Flynn's tucked-in shirt and yanked it up, revealing a thin packet of papers stuck into the waistband of his pants. "I knew it!"

"It's not a big deal!" Flynn said, flailing vainly to try to throw Yuri off of him.

"You sneaky bastard. Wait 'til I tell Ioder you were-"

The door to the office opened slightly and Sodia stuck her head in. "Commandant, are you – Commandant!" Her eyes went wide when she saw Flynn pinned down and struggling on the floor. Her sword was out before she'd even crossed the office. "Yuri Lowell, unhand the commandant this instant!"

Yuri released Flynn and jumped backward. He had gotten over what happened at Zaude ages ago, but he was still a bit jumpy whenever Sodia waved her sword at him – he knew she wasn't afraid to use it.

"Calm down, Sodia," Flynn said, getting to his knees and trying to straighten his shirt. "Yuri didn't do anything wrong."

"But Commandant, he-"

"He was attempting to keep me from smuggling work on my vacation," Flynn admitted.

Sodia looked to the papers still in Yuri's hand, and then turned her angry gaze on Flynn. "Sir, we talked about this. The doctor was quite clear that you aren't supposed to be doing any work!"

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I told you so," Yuri said.

"And you!" Sodia glared at Yuri. "The doctor was also quite clear that the commandant needs lots of rest and to abstain from physical stress. What if he had hit his head again while roughhousing and worsened his concussion? That could have been very dangerous!"

Yuri waved his hand. "Yeah, well, he's fine, so there's nothing to worry about."

Sodia was clearly not satisfied. She sheathed her sword and said, "Going with you to Dahngrest was supposed to be _restful _for the commandant. If you're not going to take care of him, he'd be better off staying here."

"Don't worry about it, geeze," Yuri said, getting to his feet and tossing the papers on Flynn's desk. "If I can take care of a baby I think I can take care of Flynn.

"I don't need to be taken care of," Flynn said.

Sodia and Yuri said, "Yes, you do," at the exact same time. Sodia glared at Yuri, while he said, "If no one's watching you, you'll find a way to try and work. Now come on, we've wasted enough time here." He held out his hand and helped Flynn to his feet. Flynn carefully re-tucked his shirt and straightened the buttons.

"You're not smuggling any more work, are you?" Yuri said, giving him a suspicious look. "You don't have reports stashed in your underwear or anything, do you?"

Flynn glared at him. "No, Yuri."

"Alright, then we can finally get going."

"Please don't worry, sir," Sodia said. "I can take care of everything while you're gone. You left very detailed instructions."

"Thank you, Sodia," Flynn said with a smile. "I trust you."

Sodia looked to Yuri and said, "Please… take care of the commandant. The doctor said he can't do anything physically or mentally exerting for at least a week."

"Don't worry about it," Yuri said. He slung his arm around Flynn's shoulders and said with a grin, "I'm going to take good care of him."

Flynn gave him an annoyed look. "Why do I have a very bad feeling about this?"

Before Flynn could protest further, Yuri grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the office. Flynn jerked his arm away by the time they were in the hallway.

As they walked, Yuri looked to Flynn and said, "In all seriousness, though, how are you feeling? Ioder's letter said you had a concussion. I don't need to worry about you, do I?"

"I'm sure everyone is making this out to be a lot worse than it is. I feel perfectly fine now. I spent the last three days before you got here imprisoned in Lady Estellise's guest bedroom, though. Apparently Master Ioder told her that if she let me go back to my own home I'd inevitably start working again when no one was looking."

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. You would."

Flynn smiled. "Heh. I would. I suppose I should thank her for being so diligent about keeping me in bed."

"Well, you can get lots of rest in Dahngrest. Jo's past the stage where she wakes up screaming, at least. She's looking forward to you coming to visit, you know."

Flynn smiled at that. "Is she? Does she remember me?"

Yuri shrugged. "I think so, at least. When I left this morning I told her I'd bring Uncle Flynn back and she seemed to perk up and recognize that name at least."

"That's good. Oliver was pretty disappointed when I told him I was going to Dahngrest. He wanted to come, too."

"We can bring him," Yuri said. "I'm sure Judy and Jo won't mind."

"No," Flynn shook his head. "Both of his parents agreed that he's not ready for such an extended trip away from them. He still gets upset being left at preschool sometimes."

"Maybe some other time, then. Although, with the way you're going, maybe you'll be ready for another vacation in, what, ten more years?"

"Something like that."

* * *

They reached Dahngrest in the evening, and made the short walk to the Brave Vesperia building. "How long has it been since you were in Dahngrest?" Yuri asked as they walked up the stairs to his apartment.

"At least four or five years, I believe," Flynn said. "Have you cleaned your room since the last time I was here?"

"Maybe once or twice."

Flynn shook his head. "You're hopeless, Yuri."

The door to the apartment was unlocked, so Yuri opened the door and let Flynn walk in first. Repede barked and lifted his head when they entered. Yuri had been expecting to smell dinner cooking, since Judy had said she'd have dinner ready for them when they arrived, that didn't seem to be the case..

"Hello, Flynn," Judy said from the kitchen.

"Good evening, Judith. How are you?"

"I'm doing just fine."

Yuri closed the door and walked over to the kitchen to see what she was up to. The sink was full of water and baby. Jo's face lit up and she splashed Judith with water as she flailed her arms around when she saw Yuri approaching.

"Da!"

Yuri smiled. "Evening, kid. What are you doing? Doesn't she usually have her bath before bed?"

"Usually, yes," Judith said, pulling her out and setting her down on a towel on the counter. She wrapped a second towel around Jo and rubbed her down. "But _somebody_ left a couple containers of finger paint on the coffee table and your daughter decided to paint herself instead of the paper."

"Hey, how come whenever she makes a mess she's suddenly _my_ daughter?"

Judy finished ruffling the towel around Jo's head to dry her off, swaddled her up in the towel, and handed her to Yuri. "Because I'm assuming she gets her untidiness from you."

"Ah, well, at least you're all clean now so come say hello to Uncle Flynn." He carried her across the room to Flynn, who had set his bag down by the couch. "You remember him, right?" She stared at Flynn curiously, and then Yuri handed her over. "You know this guy," Yuri said. "This is Flynn."

Flynn smiled down at her. "Hello, Jo. You've grown a lot since I saw you last!"

She hadn't. The wedding had been about a month and a half ago, and Jo really hadn't grown much since then. She was, however, starting to pull herself up on furniture, so that was an improvement.

Jo smiled and said, "Finn."

"Close enough," Flynn said with a grin.

Judy pulled the drain in the sink and said, "Sorry I wasn't able to get dinner ready."

"That's alright," Yuri said. "It's probably my fault for leaving the paints where she could reach them." Her ability to pull herself up unto the coffee table was still fairly new, so he hadn't adjusted yet to keeping things out of her reach. "We can go out to eat. That alright with you, Flynn?"

"That sounds nice. I've spent the past three days eating chicken noodle soup and trying to convince Lady Estellise that a concussion isn't that kind of illness."

"Sounds good. Judy, get her dressed and I'll set up the couch for Flynn." He took Jo back from Flynn and passed her along to Judy.

Once Judy headed into the nursery, Yuri grabbed a pile of toys off the couch cushion and pushed them to the floor. Then he grabbed a sheet and spread it out over the couch.

"What, I get the couch?" Flynn asked. "I thought this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation."

"We only have one bed," Yuri said. "So you can either take the couch, sleep in my bed with Judy, or fight Jo for the crib."

Flynn sighed. "The couch will be sufficient."

Judith returned to the room with Jo now fully dressed. Jo wiggled around in her arms and reached for Yuri. "I think she missed you all day," Judy said, handing her over.

"I _told_ you I was coming home tonight," Yuri said, holding her up. Every time he or Judith left the house, Jo acted like it was the end of the world and she was never going to see Mom or Dad ever again. The fact that their jobs in the guild had them leaving spontaneously at any given time didn't help. "Stop freaking out over nothing," Yuri said. "You're taking after Flynn."

"Hey!" Flynn said.

Jo wriggled around in Yuri's arms, eyeing the pile of toys he had earlier tossed on the ground. "Ball!" She whined and reached her arms out as if she could reach from here. "Ball!"

Flynn grabbed a small red ball off the top of the pile and handed it to her. "Here you go," he said cheerfully.

Jo frowned and smacked his hand away. "_Ball_."

"Uh…" Flynn said, looking slightly heartbroken at her rejection.

Judith laughed and grabbed the Ba'ul plushie. "Sorry, Flynn, wrong ball."

Jo smiled and clung to the plushie once Judith handed it to her. Satisfied, she curled up against Yuri's chest with the doll snuggled in her arms. With Jo taken care of, they left the apartment in search of food.

When Flynn saw their destination, he said, "Is this really the kind of place you should be taking Jo?"

"Yeah, we come here all the time. It's just a pub."

"But is it really child friendly?"

Yuri shrugged. "Sure. Everyone loves her."

"If you say so, Yuri."

Yuri chose not to mention that it happened to be the same establishment he'd taken Jo to the day she was born. It was kid-friendly enough before the night crowd arrived, though.

They found table against the wall and Judith said, "I'll go ask for some menus and a high chair. Don't get into trouble, boys."

Yuri looked over to Flynn and said, "You heard the lady, Flynn."

"She was talking to you," Flynn said. "You're the one who _always_ gets into trouble."

"Says the guy who worked himself into a concussion. I hate to say I told you so, but…"

"You know perfectly well the concussion wasn't caused by work. I hit my head, and that's all."

"And _why_ did you hit your head? Oh, yeah, because you passed out from working too hard. This is a simple chain of cause and effect, Flynn."

"I have hundreds of examples of _you_ hurting yourself while being an idiot. Would you like me to bring them up?"

"That's from when I was a teenager. Are you saying you're just as responsible at your age as I was when I was fifteen?"

"That's not what I-"

"And what do you know," Judith said, returning with a high chair and menus. "You're arguing again." She picked Jo up and set her down in the high chair. "You should stop fighting; Flynn is supposed to be relaxing."

Yuri grabbed a menu and said, "Maybe we should ship him off to Yumanju for the week. What do you think, Flynn? Want to spend the week relaxing in a hot spring?"

"That doesn't sound like my idea of fun," Flynn said.

"Figured as much. Hey, Judy, what are you looking at?"

"Hm?" She turned her attention back to Yuri. "I was just noticing that we've got a lot of people staring."

"Oh dear," Flynn said. "It's probably my fault. I suppose the commandant of the knights isn't entirely welcome in the den of guilds."

"Ignore 'em," Yuri said, focusing on the menu. "You're not the commandant this week; you're on vacation. Jo," he looked over at the high chair, "can you maybe wait ten minutes to get some real food before resorting to eating a stuffed Entelexeia?"

Jo paused with Ba'ul's tail in her mouth when she heard her name. She didn't understand what Yuri was saying, though, so she went back to chewing. Yuri sighed and folded the menu. He didn't even bother trying to take the toy away from her before she ruined it, because he'd learned from experience that all that accomplished was setting off crying. By now, poor stuffed Ba'ul's fur was worn thin and scraggly from a year of abuse. Attempts to replace the toy with one in better condition had been met with angry, tear-filled protests.

A chipper waiter swooped around to the table with a big, "Hello, Lowells! How can I – oh." His face froze when he saw Flynn, and then turned to confusion. "Aren't you, uh, the commandant?"

"Well spotted," Yuri said.

The waiter tried hard to keep a smile on his face. "You don't see many knights in Dahngrest, let alone the commandant."

"I am aware," Flynn said, setting the menu down. "However, I am on vacation."

"But, uh, a vacationing commandant is still a commandant. Does Mr. Whitehorse know you're here?"

Yuri glared at the waiter, daring him to make another comment. "I didn't know Harry had to clear every visitor to the city." He could understand the city government wanting to be informed if Flynn was coming on official business, but considering Flynn was just here to lie around Yuri's apartment for a week, he really didn't see how it was anybody's business. "Now can I get some pork chops or do you want to ask for Jo's passport, too?"

"Right, sorry Mr. Lowell."

After taking the rest of their orders, the waiter left and Flynn frowned. "Perhaps I should have gone to Yumanju after all. There would likely be less protest to my presence."

"Just as well," Yuri said. "Clearly taking you out in public is a bad idea, so you'll have to spend your entire vacation resting at home."

"That's fine," Flynn said. "I can use the free time to work out what to do about Count Falkner."

"Who's that?" Judith asked.

"He's the one who hired the assassin to kill Lady Katarina," Flynn said. "At least, I'm fairly certain it was him."

"How do you know?" Yuri asked, leaning forward a bit.

"I've been talking to every noble I could think of that might want to stir up controversy between the empire and the guilds. I mentioned to him that we found a letter on the assassin signed by his employer, and then a little later into the conversation he asked when the knighthood was going to make a move against Harry Whitehorse."

"I get it," Yuri said. "Even though you never actually mentioned the name of the person implicated."

"Yeah," Flynn said. "I did that to lots of nobles to see if I could catch them knowing too much. I figured since the signature was so poorly forged, whoever did it couldn't be a criminal mastermind and might fall for that trap."

"So if you caught him," Judith said, "why do you still need to figure out what to do about it?"

"Because Falkner swears that when I mentioned the letter, I said it was signed by Harry Whitehorse. It's my word against his, and his buddies on the Council are more inclined to believe his side of the story."

"So you need proof," Yuri said.

"Yes," Flynn said. "Trying to form a case against Falkner has been what's keeping me up for so long."

Ideas were already running through Yuri's head. Hiring an assassin was a business transaction, right? If he forked out money for this, there would be a record of it somewhere. Perhaps he still had the files stashed away in his mansion, and if someone were to sneak in there…

Flynn read the thoughts on Yuri's face as plain as text. "Don't even think about it, Yuri."

"Think about what?" Yuri asked innocently.

"You know perfectly well what I mean. Leave this to the knights."

"I could get that evidence for you," Yuri said. "The knights could outsource and commission Brave Vesperia. I'm not keen on nobles, but Ioder is an ok guy and that assassin screwed up my shoulder, which is motive enough for me to want to take his employer down."

"No, Yuri," Flynn said. "Absolutely not. If you break into a noble's house, I will be forced to arrest you."

"Come off it, Flynn," Yuri said. "We could do like we did in Capua Nor, remember? I break in, wreck a little havoc, give you an excuse to charge in like a hero…"

"I would charge in to arrest you, yes," Flynn said. "But that doesn't give me a chance to rifle through Falkner's personal files in the name of apprehending the burglar."

"I think Flynn is right, Yuri," Judith said. "As much fun as it would be to break in and rough him up, it wouldn't give Flynn an excuse to search his office for evidence."

Yuri shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right. Besides, I really can't afford another lengthy jail sentence right now." In his youth, spending a couple weeks in jail every now and then hadn't been that big of a deal. Now, though, Jo got visibly upset when he was away just for the day. He couldn't abandon her and Judy for something as small as a noble being a jerk to other nobles.

The waiter returned with three plates of food, pointedly avoiding looking at Flynn. Yuri sliced off a quarter of his pork chop and cut it up into small pieces while asking, "Any information on the assassin himself?"

"Not yet," Flynn said. "We've been posting his picture around, but no one seems to know him. I doubt he was from a guild, though."

Yuri put the small pork pieces and some celery pieces from Judith's plate onto a smaller plate and put this on the highchair for Jo. "If he was from a guild," Yuri said, "he'd have to be pretty stupid to accept a contract that would paint the guilds in a bad light."

"I assume that you'd have to be pretty stupid to take up the life of an assassin in the first place," Flynn said.

"Are you really supposed to be talking about this?" Judith asked.

"Technically not," Flynn said. "I'm not supposed to share confidential case information with civilians, but you guys are-"

"No," Judith said, "I mean because you're not supposed to worry about work at all."

"Oh," Flynn said. "That too."

"Jo," Yuri said, "for heaven's sake, put Ba'ul down when you're eating." He grabbed the abused toy out of her hand right before she could put it down on her food.

Jo whined and let the piece of meat fall from her fingers. "Ball!" she whined, grabbing for it with her sticky fingers.

"No," Yuri said, putting it down on the edge of the highchair's table. "Look, it's right here, ok? Just eat first and then you can have Ba'ul for dessert."

As soon as Yuri turned back to his own dinner, Jo grabbed Ba'ul and pulled it close. Yuri sighed and gave up.

They pointedly steered the conversation away from work for the rest of dinner. Yuri was pleased to hear that Oliver was adapting to preschool, and hoped it would do a lot to keep him from growing up an entitled bigot. No son of his was going to turn into one of the asshole nobles he hated so much, even if he wasn't actually his son.

When dinner was over, they headed home. Jo had fallen asleep on the way back, so when they reached the apartment Judith took her to her room. Yuri then turned to Flynn and said, "Bedtime for you, too."

"It's only nine o'clock," Flynn said.

"Yeah, but you're still recovering and you're supposed to get lots of sleep."

"I'm not going to bed yet, Yuri," Flynn said.

"These are my instructions from Ioder. If I don't enforce a strict bedtime, I'm not carrying out the contract and the guild might get a bad reputation. So…" He pointed at the couch. "Go to bed."

"I'll go to bed when I'm tired, probably in about an hour."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"_I'm _the stubborn one?"

"Look, it's right here," Yuri reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumbled letter from Ioder. "'Make sure Flynn goes to bed early every night; the doctor says this is imperative to a complete recovery'. Are you going against the emperor's orders now?"

They glared at each other across the living room, until finally Flynn caved. "Fine. If His Majesty insists, I will go to bed at this unreasonable hour."

"Good," Yuri said with a victorious smile. "Judy and I will be in our room, so no one should bother you." Yuri sat on the arm of the couch as Flynn got changed into his pyjamas. After all their years sharing a tiny room together for most of their childhoods, getting changed around each other had never been an issue. With that done, he lay down on the couch.

"Are you happy?" Flynn asked, glaring at him.

With a smirk, Yuri rounded the couch, grabbed the blanket, and pulled it up around Flynn's neck. "Here, let me tuck you in."

Flynn rolled his eyes and tried to push him away, but his efforts were hindered by the blanket pinning him down. "Go away, Yuri."

Yuri tucked the blanket into the sides of the couch to make it more difficult for Flynn to free his arms. "Do you want me to read you a story? That always helps Jo go to sleep."

"You're worse than Lady Estellise. At least when she babies me I know she's honestly trying to help." Despite Yuri's efforts, Flynn proved himself to be a truly competent knight by managing to break free from his blanket prison.

"Fine, ignore my efforts. Just trying to help my friend get better. I'm heading to my room." He paused on his way out of the living room. "Hey, Repede?"

The dog looked up at him expectantly. "If Flynn sets one foot off that couch, bite him."

Repede barked in understanding.

"What?" Flynn looked to Repede in alarm. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you, Repede? Don't take orders from Yuri!"

Repede growled, hunched his shoulders and barring his teeth. Flynn shirked back against the couch and Yuri laughed.

"Looks like Repede is on my side," Yuri said. "See you tomorrow, Flynn."

"Yeah," Flynn said, "assuming Repede lets me live through the night."


	21. Invasion

**Chapter Twenty-One: Invasion **

With Flynn safely in Dahngrest for vacation and Oliver attending preschool for several hours on the weekdays, Estelle found herself frequently lonely. It didn't seem that long ago that she could keep herself occupied with just a book, but they couldn't replace having real people around. On their journey to stop Alexei and defeat the Adephagos she had gotten used to keeping busy, and she missed the constant white noise Rita and Oliver provided.

It had been then that she decided on the goal of secretly taking care of Flynn's job and finding an assassin. When he came back, he wouldn't have to immediately stress over the case because it would already be solved. Just like in her books where the main character would solve the case because the law couldn't. She was going to be like a real detective, with a little help.

"We know that he has a daughter about four years old, and his ex-wife lives in another section of the royal quarter." Sodia had been more than willing to help when told it would leave Flynn with less work.

"A single father? That makes him look like a nice person then, criminals are always very charming." Falkner was their strongest lead, but his record was clean. They couldn't pin anything on him, but nobody had the opportunity to look through his house yet.

"What do you suggest, Lady Estellise?"

"Hmm…." Estelle put a finger to her chin and leaned forward. "His daughter is about Oliver's age. I'm sure he'll agree to invite us in for a play date." This was almost too easy. They could go in, snoop around like detectives, and then come out with the evidence.

"I can send a knight to Falkner's mansion to arrange a time." Sodia was always so helpful. Estelle just wished she was a little more personable, and maybe they could be friends like her and Flynn.

"That's great!" Everything was wrapping up nicely. She would just need to tell Oliver about his involvement and it would be official. "Rita should be home soon with Oliver, he doesn't have school tomorrow."

"I'm glad it's working out so smoothly. Is there any other information you needed?"

"No we just have to wait for Rita now." Estelle stood up. "Would you like any more tea?"

"No, I couldn't-"

"Please, it'll just get cold and go bad otherwise." Estelle giggled and refilled her cup for her.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Sodia almost looked embarrassed accepting it, and she bowed her head respectfully.

"It's nothing, I asked you to come up for tea, after all." She thought of what she could do to prevent the room from becoming too awkward, with nothing else to discuss until Rita came back. "Oh! I still have to prepare Oliver's lunch. Would you mind waiting?" It felt rude, but this had to be done.

"Of course not, I'll stay right here."

"Actually, would you like to help?" That was an option, and it meant there wasn't going to be somebody sitting silently in another room as she worked.

Sodia froze. Perhaps it was too personal for her to be comfortable helping. "I don't think I'm entirely qualified for that, Lady Estellise."

"It's just a chicken sandwich, don't worry. I'd really appreciate some help, though."

Sodia stood and sighed lightly. "I'll do what I can." Estelle smiled and led her into the kitchen, directing her to a loaf of bread as she pulled ingredients out of the ice box.

"Can you cut that? And here's some butter, you can spread that on it." The chicken was left over from a previous night, so it would need "spiced up" as Flynn put it. Lettuce went on a normal chicken sandwich; she read that it was important to give him green vegetables. Strawberry jam and mashed potato did not.

"Lady Estellise, if I may ask…." Sodia gave the countertop a pointed stare and trailed off. Estelle couldn't blame her, she would have trouble finding the words to ask about it, too.

"Oliver has some rather odd tastes. We had to learn how to adjust to cook for him," she explained. She shredded a piece of the chicken while she waited for the bread.

"I hope this is alright." Sodia handed her two slices awkwardly. "Is there anything else?"

"No, thanks so much for your help." She was going to try and hold a real conversation for once when the door opened.

"Mom!" It was comforting hearing that whenever Oliver came home. Even though he was gone for several hours, he would always come back happy and excited to see her.

"I'm in here, honey," she called. "I'm making you a sandwich." Rita followed behind him as he ran into the kitchen to hug her.

"Oh, you're here?" Rita asked Sodia when she saw her.

"Lady Estellise invited me to discuss the assassination case."

"You're still on that thing? I thought Flynn told you to drop it." Rita was familiar enough with it. Estelle ranted about it all the time, talking about how exciting it was to be like a real character in a book.

"But he's working so hard, and we have a lead now!" She finished assembling Oliver's sandwich and sent him to the table with it. "I'm going there tomorrow to snoop around."

"I'm not entirely sure that's safe to do." Rita looked like she wanted to argue the point further, but their conversation was limited with Sodia standing in the same room. Oliver had torn off a piece of his sandwich and offered it to her, which she was attempting to politely refuse.

"It'll be fine, I can take care of myself. I'm just taking Oliver down to play, and we'll find a way to look through his things."

"And you don't think it's dangerous to take him there?"

Sodia cut in, having shooed Oliver. "I can station a platoon right outside in case anything gets out of hand. Lady Estellise will be kept safe."

"Okay, but how are you going to look around in the first place? If he wants to hide something, he won't want you looking through it." Rita crossed her arms as she questioned her.

"Well, I was hoping you would have an answer." She couldn't think of a way to get him out of the way long enough, but Rita was smart.

Rita pinched the bridge of her nose in thought. "I'm not convinced this is a good idea, but I'll come up with something."

"Is that all?" Sodia asked.

"Yes, thanks so much for your help." Estelle smiled at her. "Plan around tomorrow afternoon, if it works for him."

"Of course. Goodbye, Lady Estellise." The instant Sodia let herself out, Rita whirled around to Estelle.

"This is too dangerous and you can't go."

"I can go if I want, Rita. We have to figure out why he would want Katarina killed." Estelle pouted and crossed her arms.

"No, _Flynn _has to figure that out. You have to stay home and keep Oliver safe." She glared up at her. It was almost frustrating how she tried to keep her out of danger all the time.

"Flynn's helped me out a lot, now I can help him. All I have to do is get Falkner out of the room and find proof that he hired the assassin." It was a foolproof plan, and Sodia would be providing backup. Nothing could go wrong.

"So this man hired an assassin to kill a member of the royal family, so you and our son are going in there and putting yourselves at risk?"

"Well…." She hadn't thought of it like that. But they had to do this, even if Rita didn't approve. "I know it's dangerous, but please. I'm sure it can't go wrong if we have your help. I'll go even if you tell me I can't."

"I've seen lab mice with better survival instincts than you." Rita sighed, staring at the floor. "I can help you get him out of the room. And if anything at all goes wrong, you aren't going anywhere until you learn some self-preservation."

Estelle practically squealed in delight as she tackled Rita in a hug. "Nothing's going to happen. If you're involved everything is going to be perfect."

"Yeah, okay." Rita shifted around and pushed away from Estelle, turning away to hide her blushing. "I'll be back when I have a solution."

* * *

Flynn woke to the sound of shrill wailing. Without thinking, he reached out for his alarm clock to shut the noise off. He was a bit surprised when instead of his bedside table he smacked a dog's head, and then he remembered where he was.

He opened his eyes and saw Repede glaring at him, and then sheepishly pulled his hand back. "Sorry." Jo was still crying. Was Yuri not going to get her? He started getting up, but then Repede barked and leapt at him. "Whoa!" Flynn said, pulling back onto the couch. "Repede, it's morning now. You can let me get up."

Repede just growled, and then took the edge of the blanket in his mouth and pulled it back into place. Flynn sighed and fell back onto the pillow. "Alright, I guess I'm staying here." He pulled his hands up to cover his ears. _Oh yeah_, he thought. _This is why I never want children of my own_.

He heard a door open and then footsteps. Finally someone was getting up to deal with her. The crying shut off and Flynn lowered his hands, just in time to hear the mumbling of Yuri's voice. A minute later, Yuri emerged in the living room with Jo balanced in one arm.

His hair was a mess, he wore baggy pants and a ragged t-shirt, and yawned when he looked over at Flynn. "'Morning."

"Good morning," Flynn said, a bit taken aback at Yuri's half-asleep appearance.

Yuri headed for the kitchen without paying Flynn any more attention. With Jo clinging to his neck, he poured some cereal into a small bowl and then threw some blueberries on top. He walked back to the couch and set her down on the ground with the bowl in front of her.

"Aren't you going to add milk?" Flynn asked, propping himself up on one arm.

"She likes it dry," Yuri said. "Want some waffles?"

"Alright. Here, I'll help you." He started getting up, but Repede barked at him again, just daring him to try leaving the couch. Flynn sighed in frustration. Once upon a time, Repede would have listened to him as much as Yuri. "Yuri, call Repede off. It's morning now."

"Not until I'm done cooking." Yuri banged around in the kitchen, pulling out ingredients. "I don't want you anywhere near my kitchen."

"I just want to help."

"You aren't allowed. You'll contaminate my kitchen."

"That's ridiculous, Yuri. You're letting me stay at your house; the least I can do is help you cook."

"No, absolutely not," Yuri said. "My house, my rules. Number one rule: Flynn is not allowed to cook. Besides, you're the guest. You're supposed to be being taken care of."

"I'm not very good at being taken care of," Flynn said, sitting up properly. He glanced at Repede, making sure Repede knew he was just sitting up, not attempting to leave the couch. Leaning against the couch beneath him was Jo, happily munching on her cereal. "Are you sure you can leave her alone to eat?"

"She's fine," Yuri said, pouring things into a bowl. "She's more mature than she looks."

Flynn watched Jo quietly eating blueberries and nodded. Just looking at her, it was hard to believe she was over a year old, but she had the maturity and fine motor skills of a fifteen-month-old.

"Hey, would you mind watching her tomorrow night?" Yuri asked, stirring the bowl of batter. "Judy, Karol, Raven and I wanted to go out."

"Am I not invited?" Flynn asked, pretending to sound hurt.

"Sorry, Flynn, we're going to be out late at noisy bars, which your doctor would probably frown upon. All four of us rarely get to go out anymore, since someone always has to stay behind and babysit."

"Yes, that's fine."

Yuri poured the batter onto the waffle iron. "If you visited more often, we could go out."

"I'm sorry, Yuri," Flynn said. "I never seem to be able to take time off. Whenever I think work is about to calm down for a little while something new flares up."

"Right," Yuri said, "which is why you should stop worrying about all the things flaring up because you know they are _always_ going to happen."

"Hm, I suppose." Flynn reached over the side of the couch and snatched a blueberry out of Jo's bowl. "Don't you guys have a highchair?"

"Uh… we kind of never bothered," Yuri admitted, turning his attention to the waffle iron.

Flynn frowned. "Yuri."

"She doesn't care where she sits and highchairs are expensive. She can sit on my lap just fine."

"I could pay-"

"No," Yuri said, taking the first waffle off the iron and starting the second one. "I'm not taking your money, Flynn."

"It really isn't a problem." He knew Yuri didn't like accepting charity, but Flynn felt it was different coming from him. He was family, and Flynn's salary as commandant was more than what he could ever spend, considering all his clothing and food was provided by the castle and he rarely went out anywhere. "If you can't afford something for Jo, just swallow your pride and ask. I'd do anything for her." It was one thing for Yuri to be stubborn about taking care of himself, but if he let it affect Jo, that was not tolerable.

"We're fine, Flynn," Yuri said, leaning forward on the counter. "We may not be rolling in cash like you and Estelle are, but we're doing alright. Stop worrying, will you?"

Flynn frowned, not entirely convinced, but nodded. A few minutes later, Yuri finished preparing the waffles and carried two plates over to the couch. "Here you go," he said, plopping down next to him.

"Wouldn't it be easier to eat at the table?"

"Couch is more comfortable." He sat cross-legged, with his plate in one hand and fork in the other. "So, how do you like it?"

Flynn took one bite, and smiled. "Mm. I always forget how good your cooking is, Yuri."

"Yeah, while I put a lot of effort into forgetting yours."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Two words: surprising rice."

"Well… that was a bit of a mistake," Flynn admitted.

"You never even told me what you put in that."

"That would have ruined the spirit of surprising rice." To be perfectly honest, Flynn couldn't even remember what he'd put it in, since that had been over fifteen years ago.

"I'm not even sure it was rice."

"But it _was_ surprising."

"Yeah, I'll give you that."

There wasn't much time for talking after that, because Flynn was too busy eating. It had been a while since he'd had a nice breakfast like this. Usually he ate toast at his desk, or had a muffin if he was feeling fancy. He savoured each sweet bite, while Yuri rushed through like he was afraid someone would steal it if he wasn't fast enough.

When Yuri was done, he sat the plate down on the coffee table and got down on the floor. "Are you already done with your cereal?" He picked the bowl up with one hand and rustled her hair with the other. After setting the bowl down on the coffee table, he licked his thumb and then used it to wipe blueberry juice off her mouth. "Look at you, making a mess. Hey, want to show Flynn what you can do?" He wrapped his hands around her torso and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled around, and Yuri held her under her arms, but she was standing on her own feet.

"She's getting there," Flynn said. "I'm sure she'll be walking in no time."

"She'd better be," Yuri said. "I better not find out you could walk this whole time and you're just making me carry you because you're lazy." He slowly loosened his grip to see if she could balance on her own, and she managed to stay upright for about two seconds before falling forward into Yuri's arms with a giggle. "Oh, so close. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get it next time." He picked her up and held her on her feet again.

Flynn smiled as he watched him. It had been over a year now, but it was still weird to think of his dumb friend as being a dad. When Flynn thought about Yuri, he was always off fighting monsters and leading an exciting life beyond the capital. He did not often picture him sitting around in his pyjamas, eating waffles and playing with a baby. A lot had happened in the past ten years, and somewhere during that time Yuri had turned into a grown-up. Watching him now, Flynn felt stupid to worry about Yuri's parenting abilities. Sure, maybe Yuri was a bit unorthodox, but nobody could say he didn't clearly love his child and wasn't trying his best.

"Other than going out tomorrow night, do you have any other plans for this week?"

"No," Yuri said. "We don't have any guild jobs lined up. We're just planning to hang around the house."

"I hope you're not cancelling plans on my behalf," Flynn said. "I don't mind being left here alone if you want to go out."

Yuri shook his head, though his eyes were still focused on Jo and trying to help her balance. "No, don't worry about it. We didn't have any plans before we knew you were coming either."

"Alright." Flynn finally finished his waffle and put the plate down, but didn't immediately get up. He stretched his legs out on the couch and leaned back, with Jo's giggling and babbling the only sound in the room. Flynn couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a slow and peaceful morning, and it was actually nice.

"Do you ever miss the Adephagos?"

Yuri's question broke the silence and Flynn sat up a bit to look at him in confusion. "Not particularly. Why, do you?"

"Hm… a little bit," Yuri said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the world isn't in danger, but there was always something to do. There was a blastia to find or a commandant to skewer or a giant space octopus to fight. I just miss the activity, that's all. I love Jo, and I love Judy, and I love working with Brave Vesperia, but sometimes… it's a little boring."

"I see," Flynn said, nodding. "There's always a place for you in the knights, you know. I'm always busy."

Yuri tore his eyes away from Jo just to glare at him, and he didn't have to say anything to get his answer across.

Flynn shrugged. "Just an offer."

"I guess I'm just worried that the rest of my life is going to be… domestic. I don't feel like I'm ready to settle down forever yet."

"Once Jo gets older, you won't have to spend so much time constantly looking after her. You'll have time to pursue your own interests then."

"I suppose so." He pulled his hands away and Jo wobbled around for a few seconds. "Hey, look! She's doing it, she's doing it!" Just after he said that, her arms flailed around and she fell onto his lap. "Well… that was still pretty good." He beamed at her. Clearly he wasn't _too_ worked up about turning into a stay-at-home dad.

* * *

"And you're absolutely sure you can do this safely?" Rita tried once again to convince Estelle to stay home and let the knights handle everything.

"Yes, I'll be fine." She loved that she cared so much, but it was getting tiring. Every step of the way Estelle was getting questioned about whether she really did want to do this. Oliver was dressed, Sodia was set up near Count Falkner's mansion, and she only had about 15 minutes until she was supposed to be there.

"I'm just making sure, it's not too late to call it off if you're not ready." Estelle shot her a quick warning look; it was definitely too late to call it off even if she wanted to. Rita sighed and handed her a small glass vial. "Alright, fine. Just find an excuse to pour this in his drink, it's really strong so it should kick in after about a half hour, but you'll only have about 10 minutes to look around. Find your evidence and tell him you have to go as soon as possible."

"What is it?" She looked at the clear liquid inside of it, hoping she didn't just tell her to poison him.

"It's just a laxative. Completely undetectable."

"It's a…oh. Are you sure that's the best way to do it?" That sounded unnecessary if all she needed to do was look around his house.

"Yeah, he'll be too distracted to hear you going through his things." She shrugged nonchalantly. Oliver tugged on her leg for attention.

"Am I going to school? Not my school clothes." He pulled on his shirt, confused.

"No, you're going to play with some noble brat." Rita pulled him onto her lap to straighten his sleeves again.

"You shouldn't talk about her like that, she's only a child," Estelle argued. It wasn't right to demean her just because of her father.

"You're right, I'm sure the uneducated toddler of a noble criminal will be very open minded." Rita rolled her eyes.

"At least give her a chance. It's just going to be a fun day of visiting, right Oliver?"

"What are we playing?"

"It's a secret, you'll find out when we get there." She considered telling him they were going to play detective, but she didn't want him giving it away. Children who picked up suspicious words and phrases were always good evidence. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." He pushed off Rita's lap to walk with Estelle to the door.

"What do you think?" Estelle asked her, turning around. "Do I look suspicious?"

"I think you look like an idiot going into danger. Just come back safely."

"We won't be long." She tugged on Oliver's hand to catch his attention as he waved goodbye to Rita. "Come on, we're leaving now."

He followed her obediently, chatting mindlessly as they walked. "We had raisins at school. I like raisins. And I like milk. And I get a cookie on Friday. Jeremy likes cookies too. We played with wagons at playtime."

Estelle listened to him vacantly, reading the directions to his house off a small piece of paper. She knew she had to be the right track, as there was a higher-than-average concentration of the royal guard standing by. "Are you learning anything in school?"

Oliver thought for a moment before pointing at one of the knights. "Blue."

"Very good, the royal guard wears blue now." She smiled down at him as he looked around.

He reach up to hold his ear. "Ear. And nose." He pointed.

"Good job!" She wished they could have this conversation at home where she could pay more attention to him. "Can you tell me more at home? His house is right here."

"Yeah." They turned onto the mansion's grounds and were greeted at the door by one of his servants. Count Falkner and his young daughter met them in the sitting room.

"Lady Estellise, it's so wonderful to have you here." He stood and offered her a seat. "Little Madeline is over there if the prince would like to play. Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you," she said casually. "Actually, tea would be wonderful." She didn't want to sound too eager.

"I'll call for some immediately." She sent Oliver to the other side of the room where Madeline sat at a short table, her own tiny teacups and plates laid out for dolls. He reluctantly walked over, taking a seat at her table.

"This really is a nice place, Count Falkner." Estelle tried to start some small talk. Act non-threatening and convince him that she was only here to make new friends.

"I'm sure it's nothing compared to the castle," he said. "But we do what we can, with her mother out of the picture."

Estelle was about to respond when Oliver tapped on her arm. "What is it? You were just over there."

"Don't like her. She's mean." He crossed his arms and pouted.

"You can't say that about people, I'm sure she's great." Oliver was going to blow their cover! She hand to send him back before it got worse. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad, you just aren't used to playing tea parties like that."

"I do apologize." Falkner bowed to Oliver. "She doesn't often play with other children, I put more of her lessons in succeeding than making friends."

"I understand completely." That was a suspicious thing to say, but she couldn't consider it proof unless it was something she could show other people. It didn't mean he was teaching his daughter to kill people.

"But if I may ask, was there any particular reason you chose to visit? That knight wasn't entirely clear." He leaned forward in his chair a little.

"Oh, well, I heard your wife wasn't around, and I felt I could relate. Oliver's father is no longer here, and it's difficult for him to make friends." That was almost true. His father was in Dahngrest, but he seemed to make friends easily enough. She felt a small bit of satisfaction that her parenting method was more effective than a possible murderer's.

"We certainly are honored that you chose here. Ah, the tea is here." He looked up as a servant walked to their table, silently leaving a tea tray on the table between them. Count Falkner poured her a glass and passed it to her.

"Thank you very much." She took a sip casually, watching him carefully. It would be impossible to pour it in while he was looking, but if she waited too long then he might not even drink any. "Would your daughter like any?"

"Perhaps. Madeline, would you and Oliver like some tea?" He spoke to her and held up the pot.

"Yes." She stood and grabbed Oliver by the wrist, pulling him up unexpectedly. He stumbled to kick himself up and run with her before she yanked his arm off.

Estelle knew this was the best opportunity she would get. She leaned back a little to pull the vial out of her sleeve and pour it into his tea while his focus was away. It went off perfectly! Oliver and Madeline took their teacups back to their smaller table, spilling a little on the way. A servant immediately came in behind them to scrub out the stain.

Falkner paid no attention to her, but did drink from his tea cup. Estelle panicked; she hadn't thought about having servants around watching her, and her time to figure it out was limited. She had become so accustomed to having her privacy that neither her nor Rita thought about how to clear the room of anybody but Falkner. There were only two servants, and her mind reeled planning how to get them out of the room.

"About Oliver's father," Count Falkner suddenly spoke. "I do believe I met the man before. In Yumanju on several occasions, although I never got the chance to speak to you about it."

"Oh, how wonderful to hear." She had long since become tired of hearing stories about him, but it wouldn't last long. "We never had the chance to speak about past vacations, he mostly spoke about his research." Estelle had much experience in being with a partner who would sooner talk science than anything else.

"If you'd like, I could tell you about it." He didn't wait for her confirmation before continuing. "Our first time we were much younger, I couldn't tell you the year, but my wife and I were on our honeymoon." She let him speak, occasionally asking a vague question to keep him going. It gave her time to think of a new plan to keep the servants out of the room. A risky plan, but it was all she had to work with.

Nearly 25 minutes had passed, and Falkner was starting to shift uncomfortably every several seconds. She had to act on her plan now. "I really am enjoying our discussion, and I would hate to have to end it now. Would you consider allowing us to stay the night in a spare bedroom?"

"Yes, yes, of course, Lady Estellise."

"Perhaps you could share stories about Oliver's father with him." Falkner really seemed to enjoy that topic.

"If you would pardon me, I have to leave for a moment." He stood and nearly ran towards the back of the mansion, leaving her alone to make her move. Oliver and Madeline minded their own business on the other side of the room, far enough out of the way to not disrupt her search.

"Excuse me." She called the servants' attention. "Could I have a room prepared? And perhaps a bath drawn. And could one of you walk to the castle and let them know I'm staying out?"

Both of them bowed, offering a brief acknowledgment before leaving her. Next she would have to come up with a way to get back to the castle after setting this up, but that could wait. She sifted through papers on a nearby end table for anything that pointed anywhere. Anything that linked him to the attempted assassination.

Nothing on the first table. Or the next. The clock ticked too quickly. Another disordered pile of papers. Those servants were so attentive towards everything, so it was odd that he left these laying around specifically. Clearly hiding something.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Oliver appeared at her feet, looking up at her and peeking into a drawer. "Are you looking for something?"

"Go back and play, sweetie, I think I lost something in here." She pulled out another drawer and flipped through the loose pages.

"I don't like her. She doesn't play sharing." He glared at her and clung to Estelle's leg.

"It won't be for much longer. Once I find what I'm looking for, we can go home." She went through the next desk along the wall as Oliver sulked and went back to take his seat at the small table. Even though she kept checking the clock, it felt like much longer than 12 minutes had passed when she found a stack of short letters.

_Leave the payment behind the bench by the southern gate to the public quarter. 300K gald, any less and I don't go through with this._

_Understood, I'll be at the wedding two weeks from now. I'll tell you how to pay me in a future note._

_Interesting offer. I'll meet you at-_

"What are you doing?" Estelle jumped several inches and whipped her head around when she heard Falkner speaking behind her. She stood red-handed with a series of letters written from an assassin in her hand, desk drawers wide open. "Where are- damn I shouldn't have agreed to this." He looked around, panicked, while Estelle slammed the papers back onto the table.

"Count Falkner I am obligated to bring you into the knights for questioning." Estelle pointed accusingly, ready to march right out and send him to Sodia.

"You're not telling anybody anything." He bent down and pulled a small knife out of his boot, holding it out and threatening her. "You're going to...you'll...damn. You've ruined everything."

"Come quietly and we'll get this sorted out."

"Mom?"

Estelle's heart skipped, she wanted to get through this without putting either of the children in danger. "Oliver stay over there, Mommy is working." Madeline next to him began crying noisily.

"You're going to stay here for now." Falkner took a step forward towards her. "You're staying here until I figure this out."

Estelle walked towards him, circling to put herself between Falkner and the children. "Just put the knife down, it's dangerous for the kids and there are still maids in the house as witnesses."

"I don't give a damn about the maids, they'll keep quiet too." He looked over his shoulder, keeping a watch for anybody. Estelle took the opportunity to run at him while he was facing away.

She grabbed his wrist and pushed it away, but he had looked back before she could reach him, and he shoved back. Keeping his knife from getting between them was easy, but he was taller and had better footing on the floor in his flat-bottomed shoes, making him nearly impossible to push down. Oliver and Madeline threw small fits behind her, confused about why they were suddenly fighting.

After several moments of pushing against each other, Falkner kicked forward and jammed his knee into Estelle's stomach. She stepped back to avoid it and threw her shoulder into his chest, knocking the both of them to the ground. Falkner pulled himself up first, picking up the knife that had fallen several inches away.

Estelle charged as much mana as she could in a few brief seconds, as she rolled to pick herself up. "Barrier!"

"Mom!"

There was a flash of light, one from the barrier around her and the children, and one surrounding Falkner that she didn't cause. A small Photon, enough to cause Falkner to drop his knife to cover his eyes and shout. Estelle took the opportunity to pick it up, holding it closely so he wouldn't get it. "Ray!" The small explosion it caused aimed at the roof should have been enough to catch the attention of the knights stationed outside. Falkner groaned and rolled over onto his back, hands pressed into his eyes.

"Oliver are you alright? And what about you, Madeline?" Estelle turned to the scared kids hiding behind the tea table. "Just stay over there, Sodia is coming soon."

The knights came through the door before Falkner could push himself to his feet again. Sodia looked between him leaning on a chair for support and Estelle holding a knife, commanding them, "Take that man into custody. Protect the prince and princess, get his daughter to the castle."

"Thanks," Estelle told her as the platoon scattered. She handed the knife to her and said, "He had this in his boot before attacking me. There are letters from an assassin on the dresser right there, and there is at least one maid hiding elsewhere in the house."

"Thank you for your help, Lady Estellise." Sodia took the knife and sent a solider behind her to retrieve the letters she found. "That may be enough evidence to convict him."

"What about his daughter?" As terrible a person he was, she didn't want an innocent child to be punished for what he did.

"She'll most likely be put in another home with a more stable family. I'm not in charge of that."

"I see..." She hoped that whatever happened, she would grow up a better person than her father. "Anything else?"

"We can't hold you here, I suggest you take Oliver home and calm him down. We'll send word to your room if we need anything."

"Alright, thanks again, Sodia." She nodded, returning to her business. "Oliver, do you want to go home?" He ran towards her, crying and hugging her legs. "It's okay, let's go see Rita."

Oliver sniffled and nodded, letting her pick him up to carry him out. "Was that magic you?" He shrugged, burying his face into her shoulder. "I didn't cast Photon. Can you use magic?"

"What is magic?" He calmed down enough to speak as soon as they left the mansion.

"That light around the bad guy. Did you make that happen?"

"Yeah. Scared. Did he hurt?"

"A little. But it's okay, he was going to hurt Mommy if you didn't." She squeezed him a little tighter. "You can use it if you don't want somebody to hurt you."

"I don't want to hurt people." He kicked a little bit and struggled. "I wanna walk."

"You don't have to use it if you don't want to." She was practically swelling inside from how proud she was that he picked up on magic so quickly and so effectively, like a tiny genius. "You can tell Mom when we're home, I'm sure she'll be happy too.

* * *

"It's too bad Flynn can't come with us," Karol said the next night.

"Don't worry about me," Flynn said. "You guys have fun."

"We'll be out late," Judith said. "Don't wait up for us."

"That's right," Yuri said. "If you're still awake when we get home, I'm going to be angry."

"I know, Yuri," Flynn said. He sat on the couch with Jo in his lap. She was a bit groggy, having been woken up from her nap early, but Yuri wanted to make sure he said goodbye to her before they left. According to Judith, if she woke up and her parents were gone without warning, she was likely to cry all night. Flynn was willing to put up with a slightly sleepy baby to avoid that.

"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen," Yuri said. "For Jo, there's leftover chicken in the icebox. Take the pieces out and put them in a pan, and then put them in the oven until they're warm. No more than five minutes. _Do not_ add any spices or seasonings. We're introducing that stuff slowly and I don't want you to get… creative."

Flynn frowned. "I know, Yuri. I can cook for a baby."

"No, you can't," Judith said. "I've seen what you give Oliver. That child is abnormal."

"Cut up some cantaloupe to go with it, and give her some orange juice in a sippy cup," Yuri said. "Don't add anything to the fruit. Just cut it into tiny pieces and put it on her plate. She can feed herself if its finger food. Don't mix the juice with anything, don't try to make some kind of creative desert, just… just don't feed my child anything that I haven't explicitly okayed."

Flynn was pretty sure Yuri was more concerned and overprotective about cooking than he had been when going over Jo's sleeping schedule. The prospect of entrusting his daughter's dinner to Flynn was obviously quite terrifying to him, and Flynn was a bit offended by that. Only a bit, because by this point in his life had had embraced the fact that he was a bad cook. "Alright, Yuri."

"Do you want me to write that down?"

"I think I can handle that much."

"Come on, Yuri," Karol said. "We're already running late."

"Alright. See ya, Flynn. Bye, Jo."

Judith waved. "Bye-bye, Jo. We'll be home later."

They were about to walk out, but then Karol froze in the doorway. "Oh, crap!"

"What is it, boss?" Yuri asked.

"I needed to take that thing over to Altosk today, but I totally forgot."

"Oh, that's right," Judith said. "Can we stop on the way there?"

Karol frowned. "I guess… it's kind of out of the way, though."

"I can take it," Flynn said. The others looked over to him and he said, "I'll take Jo for a walk and drop it off. Unless a casual stroll through the city is too strenuous?"

"No, it should be fine," Yuri said.

"If it's not too much trouble, that would be really helpful," Karol said. "We got a request for a mission today, but it's a bit bigger than our resources so I said I'd forward it to Altosk. I completely forgot to take it over, though."

Flynn nodded. "I can drop that off for you. You guys go have fun."

"I'll be right back and grab it," Karol said, running off. He returned a minute later with a sealed envelope, which he handed to Flynn. "Here. Just drop by the Altosk headquarters and ask to see Harry Whitehorse. Tell them you're coming for me and it shouldn't be an issue. Just tell Harry I'm forwarding this contract to them because we don't have the resources to take care of it, and that's all you have to do."

"I can handle that," Flynn said. After being the commandant, a simple delivery job didn't sound too difficult.

"Thanks so much, Flynn!" Karol said.

"It's no problem. Have a good evening."

"You'd better be asleep when we get back," Yuri said on his way out the door.

Flynn didn't bother responding. Once they were gone, he looked down at Jo and said, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

She didn't respond, but she didn't protest, either. Flynn took this as a positive sign. It was already evening and he didn't know exactly how long it would take to walk to the Altosk building and back, so they might as well head out now. Jo was still in her pyjamas, so he took her to her room to put her in proper clothes.

A while ago, Flynn had expressed his surprise that Jo's wardrobe consisted mostly of dresses. He hadn't ever imagined Yuri would be the type to put his daughter in a dress, and it seemed bizarrely out of character for him. Then Yuri had explained that dresses were significantly easier to put on and made diaper changing a breeze, and everything suddenly made sense again.

He slipped a simple green dress on her, and since it was a bit windy added floppy bucket hat on her head. Her hair, which was as dark as Yuri's but shone blue in bright light, was messy and got everywhere when it wasn't loose in the wind. He added socks and then spent five minutes looking for shoes before remembered that she couldn't walk yet and didn't wear any shoes.

"You are actually pretty darn cute," he said, looking down at her with satisfaction. "I should congratulate Yuri on having such a cute kid. Although…" he reached out and bopped her nose. "He's not going to be happy when you're a teenager and all the boys are in love with you." Jo was still half-asleep, and just stared at him in groggy confusion.

In the main room, he found a stroller in the corner. He was about to give Yuri credit for at least buying a stroller, until he realized it was Oliver's old stroller. Oh well, it least it was something. He settled her in, wrapped a blanket around her in case she got cold, grabbed the envelope off the coffee table, and set off.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach the Altosk building, but Flynn didn't mind the walk. He'd had either Estelle or Yuri fretting over him and keeping him inside for almost a week now, so it was nice to get some fresh air. Jo started waking up while they walked, which Flynn noticed when she suddenly started patting around the strolled seat and said, "Ball?"

It took a second to realize what she wanted, and then Flynn said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Jo. I didn't grab Ba'ul. You'll get him when we go home, alright?"

"Baaaall."

"I'd give him to you if I could, but he's at home right now."

Jo seemed to understand that Ba'ul was not here, and she wasn't happy. She crossed her arms and sulked the rest of the way to Altosk.

Flynn took her out of the stroller and left it out front to carry her up the steps into the building. He entered the ornate main hall and looked around for someone to talk to. He didn't have to wait long for a man to walk up to him with a smile.

"Hello! Welcome to the Union Headquarters. How can we help you today?"

"I'd like to speak with Harry Whitehorse. I have a message for him from Karol Capel."

"Alright…" the man stared at him, glancing up and down, like he was trying to put his finger on something. After a long moment of thought, something dinged in the man's brain. "Hey, aren't you Flynn Scifo?"

"That's right," Flynn said. It had probably taken the man a little while to recognize him since he was wearing some of Yuri's borrowed clothes. Flynn was out of uniform so rarely that even he had trouble recognizing himself in the mirror in casual clothing.

The man frowned. "I wasn't aware the commandant was coming to Dahngrest."

"I'm not here on the knight duty," Flynn said. "I'm on vacation, and now I'm just dropping this off for Karol."

"Rather convenient, don't you think?" the man said, crossing his arms. "Harry Whitehorse gets implicated in an assassination attempt, and now the commandant just _happens_ to stop by on unrelated business?"

"I admit the timing is unfortunate, but really, I just want to drop off this envelope." Jo was getting heavy balancing in his one arm, so he really just wanted to hand over this envelope and put her down again.

"And get a surprise meeting with Mr. Whitehorse, no doubt," the man said. "We have an agreement with the empire – you knights can't just come stomping in to our headquarters and act like you're entitled to search the place and interrogate our leaders."

"I don't want to interrogate anybody," Flynn said, trying not to get frustrated. "I just want to drop off this contract. If you want to take it and hand it to him yourself, that's fine, just tell him-"

"I'll have no part in any of your knight schemes," the man said. "And hey, isn't that Yuri Lowell's kid?"

"Yes," Flynn said. "I have her because I'm staying with Yuri because I am currently on vacation and not on duty."

"Hm…" The man stroked his chin suspiciously, and then said, "Come with me."

Flynn gave an annoyed look to Jo, but followed the man nonetheless. Hopefully he was finally getting taken to Harry Whitehorse. The men led him through a side door to a short hallway, and then opened a door. "Wait in here. I'll go see if Mr. Whitehorse is willing to see you."

Flynn sighed. This was going to take longer than he expected. "Alright. Thank you." He was left in a small conference room with a table in the middle and bookshelves on the walls. There was nothing else to do, so he set Jo down on the ground and took a seat.

He'd sat for almost a minute with his chin on his palm when Jo once again tried, "Ball?"

He looked over at her. "No, Jo, I still don't have your Ba'ul."

"Mmmm," she whined. "_Ball_."

"Whining about it won't magically make him appear."

Jo didn't understand exactly what he'd said, but she understood enough to know that she wasn't getting her Ba'ul. Her face scrunched up and her eyes glistened, and Flynn realized in horror that she was about to start crying. He couldn't entirely blame her, because he wasn't pleased about being stuck in a strange room for an unspecified period of time with nothing to do either. However, he had a feeling that the doctor would frown upon locking himself in a small room with a creaming toddler if he was trying to avoid stress.

He got up and his eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that might distract her. In desperation, he grabbed some books off the shelves and sat cross-legged in front of her. "Hey, here, let's play with these." He stacked some of the books on top of each other, pretending they were blocks. "This is fun."

Jo glared at him. If there had ever been any doubt as to who her father was, this look would have been the definitive answer. The crease on her brow, the way her dark grey eyes narrowed, and her mouth slanted somewhere between a frown and a scowl was the spitting image of Yuri when he was giving Flynn his "I am so displeased with you and everything that is happening" look. "No," she said. "Ball."

"I do not have your ball – I mean, Ba'ul," Flynn said firmly. "I'm sorry. Play with this instead, alright?" He stacked a few books vertically and then balanced one on top. "See? This can be fun, too."

Jo glared at him for an intense minute, and then reluctantly reached out and took one of the books for herself. Flynn sighed in relief as she started playing with the books, stacking them up and knocking them down again She even cracked a smile or two. Flynn grabbed one of the books and started flicking through it. It contained a history of the guild, and wasn't particularly interesting to Flynn, but he was bored and had nothing else to do. He stayed on the ground in case his leaving set Jo off again, but for now she seemed satisfied with the books.

After what he estimated to be a bit under half an hour, Flynn put the book down in frustration. He was bored, and this was getting ridiculous. Jo saw him put the book down and looked up expectantly. She whined a bit and rubbed her tummy.

"I'm sorry, are you hungry? Do you want food?"

She nodded and pouted.

"We were supposed to be home by now," he said. "Wait here for a second." She got up and walking to the door. Making him wait this long was ridiculous, and he wasn't going to put up with it anymore. When he turned the handle, though, it wouldn't move. "Oh, they cannot be serious." He wiggled the handle a few more times, but it was definitely locked. Great. Just great.

He wouldn't have been that mad if he was here by himself. After all, he could see how an unannounced visit from the commandant might look suspicious and he'd be annoyed himself if Harry Whitehorse randomly showed up at his office without warning. However, he wasn't here by himself. He had a hungry baby with him, and he needed to get her home and give her dinner.

He pounded on the door. "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

Behind him, Jo's whining steadily grew. She was going to start crying any second now, because she was bored, and hungry, and missed her favourite toy.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Jo, please be quiet, I'm trying to-"

She threw her head back and cried. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she balled her tiny fists up. Flynn sighed and rested his forehead against the door, and then brought his hands to his ears. He couldn't remember Oliver ever being this loud, and already it was making his head hurt. His doctor was probably going to have some things to say about this situation.

He walked away from the door and picked Jo up. He settled her into his lap as he sat in a chair, trying to calm her down. "Shh…" he said, bouncing her on his knee. "Oh, please stop crying." He couldn't cover his ears when his hands were occupied with Jo, and every minute that passed made his headache worse and worse. Every now and then he could pick up a word in her wails, usually 'Mom', 'Dad', or 'Ball'.

After five minutes of this, the door burst open. Well, that was one thing he should thank her for. Her screaming had certainly gotten someone's attention. To Flynn's displeasure, it was the man from before.

"What are you doing to Yuri's kid?" the man demanded.

"I haven't done anything," Flynn said, raising his voice to be heard over Jo. She's hungry and she's bored."

"Hungry?" He started walking forward. "Here, I'll take her to the kitchen and find her some food."

Flynn pulled her closer against his chest. "I don't think so. I'm not handing her over to a stranger."

"You want the kid to starve?"

"I'd like to give this envelope to Harry Whitehorse so I can take her home and give her dinner. What exactly is taking so long?"

"We're attempting to track down Karol Capel to confirm he's the one who gave you the envelope."

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Flynn said, standing up. Jo had stopped screaming, but she was still sniffling and whiny. She clung to his shoulder as he crossed the room. "All I am trying to do is deliver a guild contract. This should not be that difficult. I'm not on duty and I didn't come here representing the empire, but if you hold me here any longer I will be forced to take it as a direct insult to the knights an react accordingly."

The man took a tiny step back, looking a bit fearful. "Hold you here? N-no, we're not, like, imprisoning you or anything! It's just, we can't let you wander around the headquarters freely. If you want to leave right now, I can escort you to the main entrance."

"What I _want_ to do is deliver this envelope." He'd promised Karol he would drop it off, so it would be discourteous of him to leave without doing that. "And whatever reasoning you might have, I would have thought that anyone could see the potential political nightmare of locking the commandant in a small room against his will."

His patience, already worn thin by the long wait, had been taken to the breaking point by Jo's crying. He had a headache, he was hungry and ready for dinner too, Jo was heavy and he was frustrated that he couldn't help her, and the knowledge that he wasn't supposed to get stressed only heightened his stress. If he punched this man, he would lose any moral high ground when arguing with Yuri. This knowledge was about the only thing saving the man from a broken nose.

"You have no right to get mad when you're the one who came waltzing into the headquarters without warning!" the man said, pointing his finger accusingly. "

"To drop off a letter," Flynn said. He took a deep breath. _Don't get mad, don't lose your temper_. "This wasn't supposed to be a political thing, but if you hold me up any longer, His Majesty will hear about this."

"Are you threatening me?" The man crossed his arms.

"I'm informing you that if you lock me in this room and deprive this child of her supper any longer, it is going to turn into an international incident."

"Ha! See, I knew you were here to start something! That was your plan, huh? Get yourself into a mess so the empire has reason to blame the guilds?"

"I don't want to start anything!" He tentative grasp of patience snapped. "I just want to drop off a damned letter!" He shoved the man aside and stormed out into the hallway.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

The man followed him down the hall and back to the main entry. Flynn ignored him and made his way to Harry Whitehorse's chamber.

"You can't just barge in there!" the man said, grabbing Flynn's arm. "You're trying to spy on him, aren't you?!"

Flynn shook him off and was about to reach for his sword before he remembered he was unarmed. He also had a baby in one arm. "If you try and stop me, I swear I will bring the entire wrath of the knighthood upon you. Not the Union – _you personally_."

"I knew it! You're trying to find an excuse to declare war on the Union!"

Jo whined and buried her head against Flynn's neck, not happy with all the shouting, or with her continued lack of food and Ba'ul. Flynn lost all track of composure and shouted, "I'm not trying to incite a war! I'm here to take _a relaxing vacation_!"

Before the man could respond, the door flew open and Harry stared at them in anger. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Flynn froze. He couldn't believe he'd just let the leader of the Union find him in a shouting match. He started to apologize, but the other man spoke first.

"Mr. Whitehorse, sir! The commandant was attempting to spy on you and incite a war between the Union and the empire!"

Harry looked to Flynn with a frown. "Is this true?"

"Not at all!" Flynn said. He held out the envelope. "I'm trying to deliver this guild contract from Brave Vesperia."

"I wasn't aware you were visiting Dahngrest, Commandant," Harry said suspiciously.

Flynn's headache throbbed. Not this again. "I'm on vacation."

"In Dahngrest? Why would the commandant vacation in the den of guilds?"

"Because I'm-"

The main entry doors flew open, and Flynn looked over to see Yuri, Judith, Karol, and Raven striding in. He sighed with relief, wondering when the last time he was this glad to see Yuri was. A young man from Altosk tagged along behind them.

"Ah, Yuri," Harry said. "Good to see you."

Judith walked up to Flynn and without a word took Jo. "Mom!" she said, her face lighting up. "Ball?"

"It's still at home, kid," Yuri said, glancing over. "Flynn, what's going on?"

"Yeah," Karol said. "We were just about to start dinner when this guy found us and said the commandant had Yuri's kid and was trying to infiltrate Altosk."

"Imperial scum," the man Flynn had been dealing with grumbled. "Can't trust 'em."

"Karol," Flynn said, "would you please explain that you asked me to come here?"

Harry looked to Karol, who nodded. "I forgot to drop some papers off this afternoon, so Flynn offered to hand them over for me. It's just a job request we got that we don't have the resources to do."

"Here, take it," Flynn said, holding out the envelope. "Please, just… take it and we'll go."

"This had turned into quite the ordeal," Judith said.

"Alright," Harry said. "It looks to me like this has been a huge misunderstanding."

"Let's just put it behind us," Raven said. "No need ta make a big fuss out of it."

"You're probably right," Harry said. "Commandant, my apologies for all your trouble. However, I must ask that in the future you refrain from surprise visits to our headquarters. Even on vacation, you're still the commandant."

"I understand," Flynn said. "I apologise for not giving you notice. I didn't think it would be a problem."

"So, we're good?" Yuri said.

"Yes," Harry said. "Thank you for forwarding that contract, Karol. I'll get right on it."

"Yeah, thanks a lot!" Karol said.

To Flynn's great relief, they were finally able to leave the building. He'd spent over forty-five minutes here, and his head throbbed. He stumbled on the steps on their way out, and Yuri caught his arm.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"I have a headache," Flynn said.

"Oh, no," Karol said. "Is it your concussion?"

"The doctor's instructions did say he was supposed to avoid stress," Judith said, putting Jo down in her stroller.

"I know," Flynn said, massaging his temples. "I really wasn't expecting to have this much trouble."

Flynn didn't talk much as they walked away from Altosk. No one talked much, mostly because Jo was crying again. As happy as she was to have her parents back, she still had a whole list of reasons for being unhappy. Lacking the vocabulary to explain her grievances, she resorted to crying. The group got some unhappy looks from passersby.

They stopped at an intersection. "I don't know about you guys," Raven said, "but I'm goin' back ta the bar."

"You guys go on," Flynn said. "I'll take Jo back home. I didn't mean to ruin your night out."

"Are you sure?" Judith said. "If your headache is getting bad, you shouldn't have to take care of a baby."

"I said I would babysit tonight, so I will," Flynn said.

"Well, if you're sure it's ok," Karol said.

"Actually, guys," Yuri said. "I'm not feeling so great either. I think I'm going to call it a night."

"What, you're sick, too?" Karol said.

Judith raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah," Yuri said. He put his fist to his mouth and coughed a bit. "It just hit me. You guys have fun without me, alright?"

"That's too bad, Yuri," Karol said. "We'll try to have fun without you."

"Feel better," Judith said, leaning over and kissing his cheek before pushing the stroller to him.

"See ya," Raven said, waving. The three of them took off in one direction, while Flynn followed Yuri and Jo back home.

As they walked, Flynn said, "You're not sick."

"Sure I am."

"Yuri." Flynn gave him a look.

Yuri snorted. "Wow, what do you know, I suddenly feel better. That was a fast bug."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "You don't have to take care of me."

"Who says I'm taking care of you?"

"I don't want you to give up your night out with your friends on my account." The Brave Vesperia building was in sight now.

"Are you kidding? I don't like you nearly enough to give up a fun night like that," he said with a slight smile.

"Oh? So what is this all about?" Flynn opened the front door and held it for Yuri to push Jo through.

"You've got a headache. Who knows how clearly you're thinking. You'd probably get home and try to feed Jo surprising chicken."

Flynn frowned. "What is surprising chicken?"

Yuri put the stroller away behind the desk and carried Jo to the stairs. "I have no idea, but I'm sure you'd find a way to make chicken horrifyingly surprising."

Upstairs and in the apartment, Yuri set Jo down on the floor. "Come on, you're going to bed."

Flynn headed for the couch, but then Yuri grabbed his bag off the ground in one hand and Flynn's arm in the other, and dragged him down the hall to his own room. "You're sleeping in here, tonight."

"What? But where will you and Judith sleep?"

"Judy can sleep on the couch. I don't want her to wake you up and disturb you when she gets home later tonight." Yuri said. "I'll just sleep next to you, unless you have a problem with that?"

Flynn shook his head. They'd only owned one mattress when they were kids living together, so sharing a bed with Yuri was hardly an issue. "No, of course not."

Yuri shoved the bag in Flynns' chest. "Put your pyjamas on and I'll be right back."

When Yuri returned five minutes later, Flynn sat on the edge of the bed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Lie down," Yuri said.

Flynn did as he was told, and then Yuri put a wet cloth over his forehead. "Yuri, you really don't have to do this."

"I got instructions from the doctor in Ioder's letter," Yuri said. "It says that if you get a headache you should lie down in a dark and quiet room and put a wet cloth on your forehead. I'm just doing what it says!" He scowled, and Flynn smiled a bit. Yuri was always so self-conscious about letting his softer side show.

"Besides," Yuri said huffily, "it said that if your conditions worsen you might, you know… _die_. Letting you die in my care wouldn't be fulfilling the contract and then we wouldn't get paid."

"Heh. Thanks for your concern, Yuri."

"Yeah, whatever. Are you hungry? I'm going to go take care of Jo, but I can heat up something for you, too."

"That would be great, thanks."

"Alright, I'll be back in a bit. Don't you dare get up."

"I know."

Yuri left, turning off the light and closing the door. Flynn lay in the darkness and listened to Yuri from the main room. "Hey there, Jo. Did Uncle Flynn forget to give you your Ba'ul before going out? Yeah, he's terrible, isn't here? I don't know why I put up with him…."


End file.
